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r 5 -A^i.iAt., 

HAMLET 



WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, 
AND QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 



Adapted from Marshall and Wood's 
"Oxford and Cambridge Edition" 



BY 

F. A. PURCELL, D.D. 

RECTOR, CATHEDRAL COLLEGE, CHICAGO 

AND 

L. M. SOMERS, M.A. 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, CATHEDRAL COLLEGE 




SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 

CHICAGO NEW YORK 



,* D 



A 






Copyright 1916 
By F. A. Purcell and L. M. Somers 



J(/t ' ( I9IS 



©CU431833 



^Wj-x I 



PREFACE 

This series of Shakespeare's plays, which includes The 
Merchant of Venice, Julius Ccesar, Macbeth, and Hamlet, is 
based mainly on the Oxford and Cambridge editions of Spils- 
bury, and Marshall and "Wood. The present Editors have found 
it expedient to eliminate certain passages in the text, as well as 
to make some changes of matter and form in the editorial work, 
deemed necessary for American schools. The Introduction con- 
tains a Biographical Sketch of Shakespeare, a short account of 
the History of the Drama, brief references to the Sources of the 
Play, to the Characters, to Versification, to the Grammar of 
Shakespeare, etc. The annotated words are printed in italic 
type and the notes and word equivalents are given in the margin 
in juxtaposition with the text for the convenience of the student. 
The Glossary and many of the Notes have been rewritten, con- 
densed, or amplified, as the case required, and the Classical and 
Biblical Allusions have been included in the Notes and Glossary. 
An abstract of the play has been supplied in Hamlet and in The 
Merchant of Venice. Some unimportant and apocryphal matter 
has been omitted. The section on Shakespearean Grammar will 
be found convenient for those who may have difficulty in classi- 
fying many Shakespearean expressions, and the Questions for 
Review will be of advantage to both teacher and pupil, by saving 
time for the one, and by assigning specific work to the other. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface 3 

Introduction. 

I. Narrative of Shakespeare 's Life 7 

II. Shakespeare 's Beligion 10 

III. Shakespeare 's Learning 14 

IV. The Drama 17 

V. The Eepresentation of the Play in Shakespeare 's Time 19 

VI. The Construction of the Drama 21 

VII. Date of Composition of Samlet 21 

VIII. Source of the Play 22 

IX. Characteristics of the Play 23 

X. Character Interpretation 24 

XI. Characters of the Play 26 

XII. Abstract of the Play 69 

XIII. Duration of the Play 71 

Text 73 

Notes 205 

Grammatical Notes 234 

Versification 241 

Questions for Keview 242 

Glossary 265 



INTRODUCTION 

I. NARRATIVE OF SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE 

William Shakespeare, the greatest of English dramatic poets, 
was born at Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, on 
April 23, 1564. His father, John Shakespeare, was of the yeoman 
class. He had been a successful Warwickshire farmer, but he 
adopted the trade of glover on his removal to Stratford in 1553. 
There he soon became an important factor in municipal affairs, 
and by ability and industry he rapidly rose from one position 
of trust to another, until finally, in 1568, he became high 
bailiff or mayor of the town. Shakespeare 's mother, Mary Arden, 
was of an old Warwickshire family, and though she inherited 
"lands and houses" she had no education. 

John and Mary Shakespeare had eight children — four sons 
and four daughters. William, the third child, was the eldest 
son. Of his infancy and boyhood we know practically nothing. 
It is probable, however, that at the age of seven he entered the 
grammar school of Stratford, where he learned the rudiments 
of Latin, English grammar, writing, arithmetic, and probably a 
little Greek. His years at school were not many, for the 
declining fortunes of his father compelled the boy to seek 
employment when he was but thirteen years of age. After this 
we hear little or nothing about him until the time of his marriage, 
which probably took place in December, 1582. His wife, Ann 
Hathaway, of whom the boy-poet admiringly wrote 

Ann Hathaway, she hath a way 

To charm all hearts, Ann Hathaway, 

does not seem to have long exerted that charm over her young 
husband. At the time of their union he was little more than 

7 



8 HAMLET 



eighteen, while she had attained the more mature age of twenty- 
six. This marriage, like most marriages of its kind, did not 
prove a happy one. 

If a small amount of reliable tradition can be winnowed from 
the chaff of fiction with which the memory of Shakespeare's 
boyhood days at Stratford is surrounded, we may give credence 
to the tales regarding his youthful follies and escapades. Of the 
latter but one may be mentioned as having a direct bearing 
upon his whole career. "We are told that he took part in poach- 
ing expeditions — a prohibited practice of the time— during one 
of which he was caught stealing deer from the estate of the 
eccentric Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote. The punishment for 
this offense in those days was a fine and imprisonment. Sir 
Thomas, being Justice of the Peace for that district, acted as 
"judge, jury, and executioner" in the case of the young 
Shakespeare, who bitterly resented the punishment meted out 
to him. In revenge, it is said, he wrote the scurrilous lampoon 
beginning 

A parliament member, a justice of peace, 
At home a poor scarecrow, etc. 

and posted it on the gate to Charlecote Manor. 

This naturally aroused Sir Thomas to further reprisals, and 
Shakespeare, to escape his vengeance, fled to London in 1585. 
Verification of the poaching tradition may be found in 2 Henry 
TV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor, where Lucy is carica- 
tured as "Justice Shallow." The three luces or pikes, in the 
Lucy coat-of-arms, apparently suggested the "dozen white luces" 
in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the many allusions to 
poaching found in the context are none the less significant. 

Before the poet's departure for London, three children were 
born to him — Susanna, the eldest, in May, 1583, and Hamnet and 
Judith, twins, in February, 1585. On his flight, the immediate 
support of these children is supposed to have devolved upon his 



INTRODUCTION 



mother-in-law, Mrs. Hathaway, of Shottery, then a widow in 
affluent circumstances. 

Tradition says that Shakespeare's first employment in Lon- 
don was holding horses at theater doors, and doing odd jobs 
for theater-goers. Be this as it may, we soon find him employed 
as prompter's attendant, whose duty it was to notify the actors 
when it was their turn to appear upon the stage, etc., and 
later we find him filling minor parts in the plays. Gradually 
he worked his way into more important positions. During 
these first few years, he must have devoted considerable time 
to reading, as a preparation for the wonderful works he was 
afterwards to produce. He recast and revised many old plays, 
began the production of original dramas, and acted some of 
the leading roles in his own plays. In company with "William 
Kempe and Richard Burbage he made a successful appearance 
before Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace in 1594. He acted 
before her again at Whitehall in 1596, at Richmond and White- 
hall in 1600, four times at Whitehall in 1601-02, and at Rich- 
mond Palace in 1603, a month before her death. In 1603 he 
fell under the favorable notice of King James I., who granted 
him and his company a license to play in London and the sur- 
rounding provinces. Later he appeared at court on several occa- 
sions, and in 1604 he marched in the royal train when James 
made his formal passage from the tower to Westminster. On 
this occasion he and each of his companions received four and 
one-half yards of scarlet silk, the usual dress allowance of court 
actors in those days. It is quite evident that as an actor Shake- 
speare was much more successful, financially, than as a play- 
wright. 

Whatever may have been Shakespeare's youthful follies and 
extravagances, in later life he became not only a great poet, but 
he also developed the instincts of a shrewd business man. 
Through his acting and the sale of his plays he accumulated a 
respectable fortune, with part of which he purchased some 



10 HAMLET 



valuable property in London and elsewhere. After an absence 
of eleven years he returned to Stratford in 1596, to bury hia 
only son, Hamnet.* 

At Stratford Shakespeare invested considerable money in 
houses and lands, and obtained from the government the dis- 
tinction of a coat-of-arms, but he did not take up his residence 
there until 1616. In this year he abandoned dramatic composi- 
tion and began to enjoy, in his beautiful home at Stratford, 
a well deserved and much needed rest. At the beginning of 
this year, however, his health began to fail rapidly, and by 
April his end was near. The actual cause of his death is 
unknown, but it is generally admitted that overwork, and a not 
too submissive obedience to the laws of health, hastened an 
all too early dissolution. He died on the fifty-second anniver- 
sary of his birth, April 23, 1616, and was buried inside the 
chancel of Stratford church. On his tomb was inscribed the 
following epitaph : 

Good frend for Jesus' sake forbeare 
To digg the dust eucloased heare, 
Blese be ye man yt spares thes stones, 
And curst be he yt moves my bones. 

n. Shakespeare's religion 

The question of Shakespeare's religion has been long, and 
sometimes furiously, debated. Many eminent writers incline to 
the belief that he was a Roman Catholic, while many others, 
equally eminent, maintain that he was a Protestant. At the risk 
of being considered partisan the editors have decided to insert 
the following rather lengthy extract from the pen of the dis- 
tinguished litterateur and scientist, James J. Walsh, M.D., L.H J). 

* The direct line of Shakespeare's family became extinct a little over fifty years 
after the poet's death. Judith married Thomas Quiney, of Stratford. The off- 
spring of this marriage — three boys — died before reaching the age of manhood. 
Susanna married Dr. Hall, and of their union was born Elizabeth, the only 
granddaughter of the poet. Elizabeth married Thomas Nash, who died leaving no 
children. She then married John Barnard, who was afterwards knighted by 
Charles II. Lady Barnard died childless in 1669, and thus the immediate family 
of Shakespeare became extinct. 



INTBODUCTION H 



This extract they hope will be instructive to many Catholics, 
and interesting, at least, to some who are not Catholics; 

There is no doubt that Shakespeare 's mother lived and died a 
Catholic. Her name was Mary Arden, and many of the Ardens 
continued to be staunch Catholics even during the dangers of 
Elizabeth's reign. Indeed, one of the prominent members of 
the family suffered death for the faith. Shakespeare's mother, 
moreover, made a will in which there is a mention of the Blessed 
Virgin, a custom that had gone out of vogue in England at this 
time except among Catholics. Shakespeare's father, too, is on 
the list of Stratford recusants who were summoned by the court 
for not attending the Anglican service on Sundays. Shake- 
speare's immediate surroundings, likewise, were distinctly 
Catholic, for the spirit of the old religion had not died as yet in 
England. Indeed, it was very much alive in the central portion 
of the country. 

It is sometimes said, however, that there can be no question of 
Shakespeare 's being a Catholic, for he was married, baptized, and 
buried in the Anglican Church. But these facts, it must be 
remembered, have in themselves no such significance as they 
would possess at the present time. There was no way of having 
the birth of a child properly registered then in England except 
by having it baptized in the church by law established. Obse- 
quies also had to be observed according to the Anglican rite, 
for the only cemetery was close to the parish church. As for 
Shakespeare's marriage, in recent years the interesting sugges- 
tion has been made that the real reason for the circumstances 
attending the ceremony, which are supposed to carry a hint of 
scandal with them, is because he was originally married by a 
Catholic priest. As it was then very perilous for a priest to 
show himself in public or to perform any official church service, 
the marriage was, of course, performed secretly. Anne Hath- 
away 's family, moreover, was Catholic by tradition, and about 
the time of the marriage it is known that a priest, not entirely 
without the knowledge of the local authorities, used to say Mass 
privately, in the loft of one of the houses at Shottery. 

But if Shakespeare was a Catholic should not his plays show 
it? Unquestionably. And I maintain they do. Commentators 
have pointed out, for instance, that Shakespeare in Romeo and 
Juliet follows Arthur Brooke's Tragical History of Borneo and 



12 HAMLET 

Juliet very closely. He has, however, changed the whole of the 
play's attitude toward the Catholic Church. Confession instead 
of being a source of sin actually protects the young people from 
their own passion in the most difficult circumstances, and almost 
succeeds in rescuing them from an unfortunate complication. 
Instead of being "superstitious," Friar Lawrence is pictured 
as a dear old man interested in his plants and what they can 
do for mankind, but interested still more in human souls, trying 
to care for them and quite willing to do everything that he can, 
even risking the displeasure of two noble houses rather than 
have the young people commit sin. Friar Lawrence is repre- 
sented in general as one to whom Romeo and Juliet would nat- 
urally turn in their difficulty. 

But King John, it is maintained, represents an altogether 
different attitude toward the Church. In that play they assert 
there are passages which make it very clear that Shakespeare 
shares the general feeling of the men of England in his time. 
King John protests, for example : 

That no Italian priest 
Shall tithe or toll in our dominions. 
But as we, under heaven, are supreme head, 
So under Him that great supremacy, 
Where we do reign, we will alone uphold, 
"Without the assistance of a mortal hand: 
So tell the Pope, all reverence set apart 
To him and his usurp 'd authority. 

In this play, too, there are some bitter comments on monks 
which would seem to prove that Shakespeare shared the opinions 
of many of his contemporaries regarding monasticism. But let 
us see : The Troublesome Reign of King John, from which 
Shakespeare made his play, was probably written in the year of 
the Spanish Armada when English national feeling ran very 
high and there was bitter antagonism against Catholicism as the 
religion of England's greatest enemies. The dramatist — we are 
not quite sure who it was— shrewdly took advantage of this 
political situation in order to gain favor for his play. He tickled 
the ears of the groundlings and attracted popular attention by 
stimulating the prejudice of his audience. Shakespeare modified 
all this to a very marked extent when he rewrote the play seven 
years later, though it can be seen that he used many of the words 
of the original version and was evidently following it very 



INTRODUCTION 13 



closely. But for some good reason he was manifestly minimizing 
all the anti-Catholic bias in it though letting stand whatever 
sentiments were suitable for such characters as King John and 
his entourage. In the matter of monks and nuns and their treat- 
ment in the original version of King John, Shakespeare has been 
even more drastic in the changes that he made. 

But the best evidence of Shakespeare 's attitude toward the 
Anglican Church is to be found in King Henry VIII., one of the 
poet's greatest plays and the last he wrote. Some of the Wolsey 
speeches in it are the finest examples of English that were ever 
penned. It is conceded by all the critics to be the ripest fruit of 
his mature years. Therefore, if a play can be considered the 
expression of Shakespeare's settled opinion, that play is Henry 
VIII. Now it so happens that the subject of Henry VIII. is 
exactly the story of how the change of religion came about in 
England. But it is sometimes urged that the fifth act, with its 
culmination in the birth of Elizabeth, and the high prospects 
for England and the rejoicings which this occasions, indicates 
that the writer considered that the marriage of King Henry to 
Anne Boleyn and the birth of a daughter by that union marked 
a great epoch in English history and, above all, that the steps 
that led to this happy termination, though dramatically blame- 
worthy, must be condoned owing to their happy consequences. 
It is well known, however, that the fifth act by every test known 
to Shakespearean commentators was not written by Shakespeare 
at all, but by Fletcher. 

Our knowledge of Shakespeare's relations with people in 
London would indicate that a great many of his friends and 
intimates were Catholics. It is possible that the Burbages, the 
actors with whom he was so closely joined during most of his 
dramatic career, belonged to the Warwickshire Catholic family 
of that name. One of Shakespeare's dearest friends, the Earl of 
Southampton, who was his patron in early years, and his sup- 
porter when he bought the Blackfriars theater, was closely allied 
to a Catholic family and, as Simpson has pointed out, was 
cradled in Catholic surroundings. 

The conversion of Ben Jonson about the middle of the last 
decade of the sixteenth Century showed how easily men might 
be Catholics in London at this time. Ben Jonson was in the 
Marshalsea prison on a charge of murder in 1594 and found 



14 HAMLET 



himself surrounded by priests who were charged with treason 
because of their refusal to take the oath of supremacy. By asso- 
ciating with them Jonson became a Catholic and when released 
from prison married a Catholic wife. His child was baptized 
Mary, and Shakespeare was chosen as her sponsor. This choice 
of a godfather seems to indicate that Shakespeare was a Catholic 
at this time for, in his ardor as a new convert, Ben Jonson would 
scarcely have selected an Anglican for that office. 

One more proof of Shakespeare's Catholicism in conclusion: 
About the close of the seventeenth century Archdeacon Davies, 
who was a local historian and antiquarian in the neighboring 
county of Staffordshire, but who was well acquainted with Strat- 
ford and its history, and who could easily have had very definite 
sources of information denied to us, declared that Shakespeare 
' ' dyed a papist. ' ' It would have been perfectly possible, it must 
be remembered, for Archdeacon Davies to have spoken with 
people who knew Shakespeare during the years that the poet 
spent in Stratford at the end of his life. After this review of 
the evidence I can not but conclude that Shakespeare not only 
' ' dyed a papist, ' ' but also lived as one. 

Leaving those, to whom these lines may be of interest, to 
make their own deductions, the editors accept the conclusions of 
the distinguished Jesuit, Herbert Thurston, who, in discussing 
this point in the Catholic Encyclopedia, maintains that there 
is no real ground for the belief that Shakespeare either lived 
or died a Catholic. Thurston concludes his able study of this 
question by stating, ' ' The point must remain forever uncertain. ' ' 

m. Shakespeare's learning 

Of Shakespeare 's learning it may be said that though classical 
quotations and allusions are numerous throughout his works, 
Ben Jonson credits him with "small Latin and less Greek." 
"His quotations from Latin literature are such as a schoolboy 
might make from Virgil, Ovid, and the other authors he had 
studied; and his allusions to classical history and mythology 
are mostly from the same sources, or from the familiar stock in 
English books of the period." (Rolfe.) In comparing Shake- 



INTEODTJCTION 15 



speare with the dramatists of his time, Jasper Mayne, writing in 
1637, mentions him as one of those who did his work "without 
Latin helps"; and Mayne 's contemporary, Ramsey, in compli- 
menting Ben Jonson on his knowledge of the classical languages, 
says that he (Jonson) 

could command 
That which your Shakespeare could scarce understand. 

Yet we are told that Shakespeare's work is "Art without art, 
unparalleled as yet," and though he borrowed nothing from 
Latin or Greek, his Julius Caesar ravished the audience, 

When some new day they would not brook a line 

Of tedious (though well labour 'd) Catiline, 

and Jonson 's "Sejanus too was irksome." In Fuller's Worthies 
we find the following reference to Shakespeare: "He was an 
eminent instance of the truth of that rule, Poeta non fit, sed 
nascitur — one is not made but born a poet. Indeed his learning 
was very little . . . nature itself was all the art which was 
used on him." And he speaks of the wit combats between him 
and Ben Johnson, "which two I behold like a Spanish great gal- 
leon and an English man-of-war. Master Jonson (like the 
former) was built far higher in learning; solid but slow in his 
performances : Shakespeare, like the English man-of-war, lesser 
in bulk and lighter in sailing, could turn with all tides, tack 
about, and take advantage of all winds, by the quickness of his 
wit and invention." Dry den in his Essay on Dramatic Poesy 
(1668), says: "Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, 
give him the greater commendation ; he needed not the spectacles 
of books to read nature ; he looked inwards and found her there : ' ' 
and in the same author's prologue to Julius Ccesar we find, 

So in this Caesar which today we see, 

Tully ne 'er spoke as he makes Antony. 

Those then that tax his learning are to blame; 

He knew the thing, but did not know the name. 

Great Jonson did that ignorance adore, 

And tho' he envied much, admired him more. 



16 



HAMLET 



The material for his historical plays he obtained from 
Holinshed and Plutarch, and in the use of these rather unre- 
liable authorities he makes many unscholarly mistakes. 

During his mature years and in the time of his prosperity, 
he brought out his best works. Some writers credit him with the 
authorship of forty-three plays of a dramatic character. Seven 
of these are considered spurious. Thirty-three known to be his 
are divided as follows : 



The Taming of the Shrew 
The Merchant of Venice 
All's Well that Ends Well 
Much Ado About Nothing 
Measure for Measure 
The Comedy of Errors 
Twelfth Night 

Midsummer-Night 's Dream 

As You Like It 

Cymbeline 

Two Gentlemen of Verona 

The Merry Wives of Windsor 

Love 's Labor 's Lost 

The Winter's Tale 
The Tempest 

Timon of Athens 
GPericles 
SUulius Caesar 
f Antony and Cleopatra 
Coriolanus 

Hamlet 

Troilus and Cressida 

Romeo and Juliet 
Othello 

King Lear 
Macbeth 

King John 

King Richard the Second 

1 and 2 King Henry the Fourth 

King Henry the Fifth 

1, 2, 3 King Henry the Sixth 

Richard the Third 

Henry the Eighth 



Italian Origin 



} 



Classical (from Plautus) 



j-Mediaeval Sources 

Legendary 
Spanish Origin 
English Origin 
French Origin 



} 



Origin Unknown 



Comedies 



Classical Origin 
.(Plutarch's Lives, by 
North) 



j-Mediaeval Origin 



} 



Italian Origin 

1 Origin — Legendary 

j History of Britain^ 



"Tragedies 



-Origin — Holinshed & Hall 



Chronicle 
Plays 



INTRODUCTION 17 



Besides these he wrote one hundred and fifty-four Sonnets 
and some Narrative Poems. 

IV. THE DKAMA 

A lengthy discussion of the drama cannot be conveniently 
introduced into a text of this kind ; therefore, the chief heads only 
will be touched upon. Drama is a Greek term signifying action,""^ 
and in its application it comprehends all forms of literature 
proper for presentation on the stage. In the drama, actors 
usually tell a story by means of word and action. This story 
may be tragic or comic; — tragic when the serious phases of life 
are discussed, comic when life's follies and foibles are depicted. 
Other phases of the drama which do not, strictly speaking, come 
under the heading tragedy or comedy, are the Greek Satyrs, the 
Morality Plays of the Middle Ages, the Pastoral Plays of the 
Renaissance, and the Melodramas still in vogue. 

Although the drama was well established in the remote ages 
in India and China, the earliest examples of pure dramatic art 
are to be found in Greece. From the sacred songs and choruses 
in honor of the god Dionysus, the Greeks in time evolved a form 
of drama, the chief features of which, even in its highest stages 
of development, were lyric or choral. To Aeschylus, Sophocles, 
Euripides, and Aristophanes, in the fifth century, and to 
Menander at a later period, the Greek drama owes its greatness 
and its influence in ancient and in modern dramatic literature. 

The Roman drama, as it has come down to us in the works 
of Terence, Plautus, and Seneca, is but a slightly modified form 
of Menander, and shows some traces of the influence of Aeschylus 
and other dramatists of his time. This modification, in the 
comedies of Plautus at least, was not for the betterment of the 
drama; on the contrary, it was a concession to the depraved 
taste of his Roman audience. Unfortunately, Plautus' travesties 
of the old Greek masters later served as models for the dramatic 
writers of the Renaissance, and his influence is felt even to the 



18 HAMLET 

present day. Modern tragedy, generally speaking, is a direct 
offspring of the works of Seneca. Toward the close of the Roman 
Empire, the theaters became the scenes of the most degraded 
exhibitions of indecency and debauchery. Christianity attacked 
these indecencies and drove the mimes from their haunts of 
infamy into the streets and byways of Rome and its environs. 
These mimes practiced their mimicry in the villages and cross- 
roads, and became the models for the strolling players of the 
middle ages. 

Christianity, however, recognized the necessity of the drama 
as a humanizing influence, and though years elapsed before its 
restoration as drama proper, the leaders of the new religion set 
about the substitution of wholesome Christian plays for the 
Roman indecencies to which they had recently given the death 
blow. The Scriptures and the liturgy of the church were rich 
stores from which were drawn the materials for the Mystery, 
the Morality, and the Miracle Plays. After a time these exhibi- 
tions passed from the control of churchmen into the hands of 
the Guilds. Under the management of the Guilds these plays 
soon lost their religious aspect, and before the end of the fifteenth 
century they had been completely divorced from church in- 
fluence, and were ready to be destroyed or absorbed by the spirit 
of the New Learning. This destruction or absorption, however, 
was not accomplished without a struggle. The leaders of the 
Renaissance advocated the complete dominance of classic in- 
fluence in the reconstruction of the drama, while the Medieval- 
ists strenuously advocated the perpetuation of the Mystery, 
Morality, and Miracle Plays. Of this travail, however, was born 
the modern drama. 

Italy, France, Germany, England, and Scandinavia contrib- 
uted largely to the formation of the modern drama, but prac- 
tically all the dramatic writers of these countries have been in- 
fluenced by the Greek and Roman masters. These masters have 
been slavishly imitated by all but a few of their pupils. This 



INTRODUCTION 19 



is especially true in the matter of composition and technique. 
The observance of the unities, the harmony of rhyme, the smooth- 
ness of rhythm, the maintenance of the chorus, the number and 
character of the dramatis personam, etc., were classic restrictions, 
which, to a certain extent, have stultified the higher and broader 
aspirations of many a dramatic genius. Among those who 
rebelled against these restrictions, in so far as they affected the 
English drama, were some of the immediate predecessors of 
Shakespeare — Marlowe, Kyd, Green, and Lyly. These men 
opened the way for the sweeping innovations of Shakespeare, 
and for the half-hearted adoption of these innovations by Ben 
Jonson, who often apologized to his contemporaries for his 
temerity in disregarding the unities and other classic formulae. 
Since Shakespeare's time, or what is known as the period of 
the Elizabethan drama, no English dramatic literature, worthy 
of comparison with the work of that great master, has appeared. 
During the reign of James I., Massinger, Middleton, Shirley, and 
others wrote, but their art was only a weak imitation of their 
masters, Marlowe and Shakespeare. Addison, Steele, Goldsmith, 
"Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson, and others, 
have sought recognition on the dramatic stage, but with little 
or no success. So far America has produced nothing of a 
dramatic nature worthy of recognition, and judging from the 
dominance of the light, frivolous, vaudeville performances on the 
English and American stages, the drama as a popular entertain- 
ment has been laid to rest, and the day of its resurrection seems 
far distant. 

V. THE REPRESENTATION OF THE DRAMA IN SHAKESPEARE *S TIME 

The staging of the drama in Shakespeare's time was a very 
different matter from what it is today. The primitive theaters, 
or theatrical inns, were rude wooden structures, usually circular 
in form, with a covered stage and covered galleries, and an open 



20 HAMLET 

pit exposed to the vicissitudes of wind and weather. These crude 
structures were usually located outside the city walls, and be- 
yond the jurisdiction of the city authorities, for, at that time, 
all theatrical representations were held in disfavor by the Puri- 
tanical leaders in church and state. The gallants of the town 
occupied the stage with the players, and delighted in chaffing and 
interrupting the actors with irrelevant puns and clownish 
mimicry. The middle classes occupied the galleries and often 
enjoyed the spontaneous sallies of wit and repartee between the 
gallants and the players more than they enjoyed the play itself. 
The "tag-rag," or what then might have been regarded as we 
regard our present-day "gallery gods," occupied the pit, and 
when not dodging the not infrequent missiles hurled from the 
stage, or the snow or rain from the open firmament, they could 
appreciate a good comedy or a real drama as well as could the 
more favored occupants of the reserved places. The stage had 
no scenery, that being first introduced by Davenant after the 
Restoration. There were no rise and fall of a curtain to mark 
the opening and close of a scene. The entrance to the stage was 
strewn with rushes instead of being carpeted ; the walls were 
hung with arras; a large board with names painted on it indi- 
cated where the scenes of the play being produced were laid. 
For tragedies the walls were hung with black tapestry; Shake- 
speare speaks of "Black stage for tragedies and murders fell" 
("Lucrece") ; and History, addressing Comedy, says: 

Look, Comedy, I mark'd it not till now, 

The stage is hung with black, and I perceive 

The auditors prepar'd for tragedie. 

A Warning for Fair Women. 

Before the Restoration women's parts were acted by boys, 
and even among the audience no woman might appear unless 
masked. The union of the serious and the comic in the same 
play was common, and clowns were apt to thrust themselves 



INTRODUCTION 21 



upon the stage on all occasions, much to the annoyance of 
Shakespeare himself. (See Hamlet, III., ii., 43.) The costume 
and many other stage accessories were almost entirely lacking, 
and the few that were used were usually inappropriate. Thus 
the gorgeous stage setting of the present day, which adds so 
much to the successful presentation of the drama, had to be sup- 
plied by the keen imagination of the audience; and here we 
get a fair appreciation of the high degree of intelligence de- 
manded from theater-goers of the Elizabethan period. 

VI. THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DRAMA 

"A drama undertakes to tell a story by presenting a few 
episodes or situations from which the entire course of the action 
can be inferred. Inasmuch as these scenes are to be presented in 
rapid succession to an audience, they must be not only clear and 
easy to follow, but, to be interesting, they must also afford op- 
portunity for striking, significant action on the part of the char- 
acters. Further, inasmuch as in a drama the author has no op- 
portunity to tell his audience directly what he thinks of his 
characters, these latter must reveal their natures and purposes 
by their attitude toward one another, as manifested in speech 
or action. It is most important that every action in a drama be 
explained, prepared for, given a motive, by something which has 
already taken place, or some trait of character already indi- 
cated." — Robert Morss Lovett. 

VII. DATE OF COMPOSITION OF HAMLET 

On July 26, 1602, James Roberts, a printer of London, entered 
upon the register of the Stationers' Company,* "A booke called 
The Revenge of Hamlett Prince Denmarke as yt was latelie Acted 
by the Lord Chamberlayne his Servantes." In 1603 the First 

* A company incorporated in London in 1557. It had a monopoly of the 
registration of all publications down to the passing of the Copyright Act in 1842. 



22 HAMLET 



Quarto, Q x , consisting of 32 pages, 2143 lines, was entered on the 
register of the Stationers ' Company with this title : ' ' The Tragicall 
Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke, by William Shakes- 
peare. As it hath been diverse times acted by his Highnesso 
servantes in- the Cittie of London ; as also in the two Universities 
of Cambridge and Oxford, and Elsewhere. At London printed 
for N. L. and John T. Trundell, 1603." This edition is un- 
doubtedly pirated, and may have been produced from notes taken 
during the representation of the play. It differs materially from 
the second Quarto, Q 2 , the authorized edition, which was entered 
upon the Stationers' Eegister in 1604 with the title: "The 
Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke. By William 
Shakespeare. Newly imprinted and enlarged to almost as much 
againe as it was, according to the true and perfect coppie. ' ' This 
is the best of the quartos, and is supposed to be as Shakespeare 
had left it. 

From the foregoing it is evident no exact date can be assigned 
for the publication of Hamlet, but it is very probable the first 
version was written during the years 1601-2, and the second dur- 
ing 1603-4. Three other Quartos followed the first two, but each 
of these was merely a copy of the one preceding. In 1623 Hamlet 
appeared in the First Folio, Y t , an edition of Shakespeare's com' 
plete works. This version was different from and in some respects 
inferior to the second Quarto. The First Folio was followed by 
three others at various times. The present edition is a combina^ 
tion of Q 2 and F x . 

VIII. SOURCE OF THE PLAY 

In 1208, Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish writer, a native of 
Elsinore, wrote Historica Danica, a Latin history of Denmark. 
The Legend of Amleth or Hamlet appears in the third and 
fourth books, and is taken from the Icelandic Saga of Damsk 
Kings. Belleforest, a French writer, published at Paris in 1570, 
his Histories Tragiques. The fifth volume contains the legend 
of Amleth. In 1608, some years after the publication of 



INTRODUCTION 23 



Hamlet, there appeared an English translation of Belief orest's 
Amleth known as the Hystorie of Hamblet. There may have 
been earlier translations but this is the only one extant. The 
legend, however, seems to have been well known and appears to 
have been embodied in previous plays. From these, Shakespeare 
is supposed to have gathered materials for the framework of his 
plot. The following brief sketch will show the points of resem- 
blance between the Legend of Amleth and Shakespeare's Hamlet: 
Two brothers, Horvendile and Fengon, are appointed by 
Roderick, king of Denmark, governors over two provinces of his 
kingdom. Horvendile wins renown as a Vi-king and, in single 
combat, slays Collere, king of Norway. Roderick receives a large 
share of the spoil, and gives Horvendile his daughter Geruth in 
marriage. Horvendile and Geruth have a son, Amleth. Fengon 
falls in love with Geruth and wins her affection. He secretly 
murders his brother, marries Geruth, and obtains his brother's 
province. Amleth suspects his uncle, and to prove the truth of 
his suspicions, as well as to save his own life, he feigns madness. 
Plots are laid to test whether the madness is real or feigned. 
Not being able to satisfy himself, Fengon sends Amleth to Brit- 
ain. With him go two servants who are intrusted with secret 
letters, desiring the king of Britain to slay Amleth. On the 
voyage Amleth secures and reads the letters, and so alters them 
that the servants, on their arrival in England, are hanged in 
his stead. Amleth returns to Denmark, where he finds his own 
funeral rites being celebrated. He sets fire to the castle, kills 
the king, reveals the reason for his feigned madness, and ascends 
the throne. 

IX. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PLAY 

"To the common public Hamlet is a famous piece by a 
famous poet, with crime, a ghost, battle, and carnage ; and that is 
sufficient. To the youthful enthusiast Hamlet is a piece han- 
dling the mystery of the universe, and having throughout 
cadences, phrases, and words full of the divinest Shakespearean 



24 HAMLET 



magic ; and that too is sufficient. To the pedant, finally, Hamlet 
is an occasion for airing his psychology; and what does pedant 
require more 1 But to the spectator who loves true and powerful 
drama, and can judge whether he gets it or not, Hamlet is a 
piece which opens, indeed, simply and admirably, and then, ' The 
rest is puzzle ! ' . . . Hamlet thus comes at last to be not a drama 
followed with perfect comprehension and profoundest emotion, 
which is the ideal for tragedy, but a problem soliciting interpre- 
tation and solution. It will never, therefore, be a piece to be 
seen with pure satisfaction by those who will not deceive them- 
selves. But such is its power and such is its fame that it will 
always continue to be acted, and we shall all of us continue to go 
and see it." — *Matthew Arnold, in the Pall Mall Gazette. 

X. CHARACTER INTERPRETATION" 

The following simple rules are intended to guide students of 
the play to form their own estimate of the various characters, a 
much more useful and interesting process than that of merely 
committing to memory the opinions of others : 

1. In judging the character of any of the dramatis persorae take 

into account what is said of him by his companions. Hamlet 
himself will assist you to form a general estimate of almost 
every other character in the play. 

2. In estimating a person's character by what he himself says, 

note attentively the circumstances under which he speaks. 
Most of the hints from which we may form a correct esti- 
mate of Hamlet's character are found in his own soliloquies. 
In conversation with other characters Hamlet often, pur- 
posely, misrepresents himself. 

3. Do not interpret character by single incidents. Many details 

must be looked upon in the light of the general view. 
Polonius must not be regarded as a sage because he gives 

* Arnold, Matthew, born at Laleham, England, 1822 ; died in 1888. A noted 
English literary critic and poet. 



INTRODUCTION 25 



wise counsel to Laertes. Compare his speeches with his 
actions, and it will be found that, as Goethe says, he speaks 
like a book, when he is prepared beforehand, and like an 
ass, when he utters the overflowings of his heart. 

4. "Watch the development of character as time progresses. 

Form for yourself a general idea of what each character 
may have been before the period of the play, and observe 
the effect of circumstances and surroundings upon that char- 
acter. Hamlet would have presented a very different figure if 
he had not had a duty imposed upon him, for the perform- 
ance of which he was by nature unfitted. 

5. Observe carefully all contrasts, Shakespeare generally adds to 

the interest of his characterization by contrast or by duplica- 
tion. Laertes and Fortinbras are both placed in strongest 
contrast to Hamlet. Horatio forms a contrast to almost all 
the other characters of the play; and Hamlet himself ex- 
presses the contrast between his father and his step-father. 

6. Finally, read carefully, and act upon these cautions and hints 

by Coleridge.* "If you take only what the friends of the 
character say, you may be deceived, and still more so, if that 
which his enemies say ; nay, even the character himself sees 
himself through the medium of his character, and not exactly 
as he his. Take all together, not omitting a shrewd hint from 
the clown or the fool, and perhaps your impression will be 
right ; and you may know whether you have in fact discov- 
ered the poet's own idea, by all the speeches receiving light 
from it, and attesting its reality by reflecting it. ' ' 

Shakespeare "clothed the creatures of his legend with form 
and sentiments, as if they were people who had lived under his 
roof; and few real men have left such distinct characters as these 
fictions. ' ' — f Emerson. 

* Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, born at Ottery St. Mary, 1772 ; died 1834. An 
English poet, philosopher, and literary critic. 

t Emerson, Ralph Waldo, born at Boston, Mass., 1803 ; died 1882. A cele- 
brated American essayist, lecturer, and poet. 



26 HAMLET 



"It is common for people to talk of Shakespeare's plays, 
being so natural, that everybody can understand him. They are 
natural, indeed they are grounded deep in nature, so deep that 
the depth of them lies out of the reach of most of us." — *Lamb. 

""We talk of Shakespeare's admirable observation of life, 
when we should feel that not from a petty inquisition into those 
cheap and everyday characters which surrounded him, as they 
surround us, but from his own mind, which was, to borrow a 
phrase of Ben Jonson's, the very 'sphere of humanity/ he 
fetched those images of virtue and of knowledge, of which every 
one of us, recognizing a part, think we comprehend in our nature 
the whole." — *Lamb. 

XI. CHARACTERS OF THE PLAT 

Claudius, Kmg of Denmark 

Prominent among the characteristics of this poisoner and 
smiling villain is his hypocrisy. He can speak of the king, whom 
he has murdered, as "Hamlet, our dear brother," for whom 
he and his kingdom grieve "in one brow of woe;" he can speak 
of the affection he bears the Prince, whom he has deprived of his 
lawful succession to the throne : 

And with no less nobility of love 

Than that which dearest father bears his son, 

Do I impart toward you. — I. ii. 110. 

In order to keep him under surveillance, he begs him to remain 

Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, 

Our ehiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. — I. ii. 116. 

While in the act of making arrangements for Hamlet's murder 
he affects a tender regard for his "especial safety," 

Which we do tender, as we dearly grieve 
For that which thou hast done. — IV. iii. 45. 

* Lamb, Charles, born at London, England, 1775 ; died 1834. A noted critic, 
humorist, and man of letters. 



INTRODUCTION 27 



As many of his speeches give evidence of the blackest hypoc- 
risy, so his actions, as might be expected from a crafty, double- 
minded schemer, are often the result of deep-laid plots. He sets 
spies on Hamlet's movements, and even plays the spy himself. 
With acuteness and cunning, which he describes as "majesty and 
skill," he handles the threatening Laertes, and strives on all 
occasions to avert suspicion from himself. "To bear all smooth 
and even" is his continual thought; hence, speaking of Hamlet's 
"mission" to England, he says, 

This sudden sending him away must seem 
Deliberate pause. — IV. iii. 8. 

But all his craft avails him nothing, and his best-laid schemes 
are doomed to failure. The death of Polonius and his interment 
"in hugger-mugger" result in rendering the people "muddied, 
thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers," and 
these whispers, "as level as the cannon to his blank," make the 
king their mark. 

Suspicion that "ever haunts the guilty mind," naturally 
finds a ready lodging in the soul of Claudius. From the first 
he regards the "lunacy" of Hamlet as "dangerous." After 
playing the spy he becomes assured that love is not the cause of 
Hamlet's madness: 

There's something in his soul, 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; 
And, I do doubt, the hatch, and the disclose, 
Will be some danger: — III. i. 169. 

Being seized with what his flatterers call, "most holy and re- 
ligious fear," he sends the Prince to England, giving as his 
reason that, 

The terms of our estate may not endure, 
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow 
Out of his lunacies. — III. iii. 5. 



28 HAMLET 



He harps unceasingly upon this fear. He suspects the blow 
that struck Polonius down was aimed at him: "It had been 
so with us, had we been there. " " How dangerous is it that this 
man goes loose !" And, demanding Hamlet's death at the hands 
of the King of England, he lays bare his wretched soul, 

For like the hectic in my blood he rages, 
And thou must cure me: till I know 'tis done, 
Howe'er my haps, my joys were ne'er begun. — IV. iii. 70. 

To refer to the conscience of one whose hand is "thicker 
than itself with brother's blood," and whose heart depends on 
"springs of steel," may appear to be a perversion of the word, 
but Shakespeare, knowing that no man was ever utterly lost 
to all sense of right, has in accordance with nature represented 
Claudius as possessing a conscience which could at least suffer 
remorse. There is no reason for supposing that he did not love 
the queen, though knavery enabled him to conceal his feelings at 
her death. Hamlet's device to "catch the conscience of the 
king" was successful, and Polonius unwittingly attained a sim- 
ilar result : 

how smart 
A lash that speech doth give my conscience! — III. i. 49. 

More than once he wishes the deed undone, but only on an impos- 
sible condition. He asks most pertinently, "May one be par- 
doned and retain the offence 1 ' ' III. iii. 57. He is fully conscious 
of the two-fold efficacy of prayer, yet he cannot pray; neither 
can he repent : 

Try what repentance can: what can it not? 

Yet what can it, when one cannot repent? — III. iii. 66. 

Thus he palters with his conscience, and his state of mind is 
truly wretched. Punishment proportionate to his crimes over- 
takes him, and in anguish he cries out that every new trouble, 
"like to a murdering-piece in many places," gives him "super- 
fluous death." 



INTRODUCTION 29 



He is coarse-minded, licentious, drunken. Hamlet contrasts 
his own father with Claudius, ''Hyperion to a satyr;" and in 
another place he speaks of the latter as "a mildew 'd ear, blasting 
his wholesome brother. ' ' He describes the ' ' heavy-headed revel ' ' 
in which the king takes the leading part : 

The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, 
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up-spring reels; 
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, 
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 
The triumph of his pledge. — I. iv. 8. 

The ghost of the murdered Hamlet describes him as, "That 
incestuous, that adulterate beast;" and Hamlet himself can find 
no epithet strong enough to express his loathing. In his opin- 
ion he is "a murderer and a villain," "a Vice of kings," 

A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, 
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, 
And put it in his pocket. — III. iv. 98, 

"a king of shreds and patches," a "bloat king," "a paddock," 
"a bat, a gib." He is filled with amazement that a man so plau- 
sible can be so wicked, and turning his thoughts to generaliza- 
tion, as is his wont, marvels "that one may smile, and smile, and 
be a villain. ' ' 

As a king Claudius is not altogether despicable. He is ener- 
getic, eager to conciliate, and specious. Fortinbras, "holding a 
weak supposal of his worth, ' ' finds that he is not to be contemned. 
With regard to Hamlet, he acts "with quick determination," 
and sends him to England with all possible dispatch. He can be 
resourceful and brave in an emergency, and can maintain his 
composure in the face of Laertes' "giant-like rebellion:" 

Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person: 

There's such divinity doth hedge a king, 

That treason can but peep to what it would. — IV. v. 105. 



30 HAMLET 



' ' The king himself is a mass of deception and hypocrisy ; he 
is a practiced actor, and the perfect master of his looks and 
movements, and of all his words and actions ; his guilty designs 
are supported in every case by maturely-weighed and well-con- 
trived plans." — *TJlrici. 

"No inward virtues adorn the hypocritical 'laughing vil- 
lain;' unless it be that quick perception of his understanding and 
of his guilty conscience, which makes him attentive to every 
change and threat, which makes him interpret every event, every 
word, every sigh, which makes him gather round him with skil- 
ful grasp the weakest spies and tools." — \Gervinus. 

The Queen 

The Queen is more the instrument of crime than she is a 
criminal. She is a weak woman, but not consciously wicked or 
depraved. She is " seeming- virtuous, " and no doubt deceives 
herself till she comes to imagine herself really so. She yields 
readily to the wiles of Claudius, and so gives rise to Hamlet's 
reflection upon the sex, ' ' Frailty, thy name is woman. ' ' She lives 
a brief widowhood, although her own better feeling tells her that 
her second marriage is "o'erhasty," and she weakly allows, 
herself to be made the, tool of both Claudius and Polonius. Not 
until Hamlet sets up a glass wherein she can see the heinousness 
of her conduct, does she realize how low she has fallen. Then she 
sees within her soul 

such black and grained spots 
As will not leave their tinct. — III. iv. 90. 

Henceforth she leans upon her son rather than upon her hus- 
band, and does what she can to repair the wrong she has com- 
mitted. 

Her emotion illustrates the truth of the Player's maxim, 

* Ulrici, Hermann, born at Pforten, Prussia, 1806 ; died at Halle, Prussia, 
1884. A German theistic philosopher and critic. 

t Gervinus, George Gottfried, born at Darmstadt, Germany, 1805 ; died at 
Heidelberg, 1871. A celebrated German historian and critic. 



INTRODUCTION 31 



"Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament. ' ' This emotion, 
however, is neither deep-seated nor lasting. She mourns the loss 
of her first husband ' ' like Niobe, all tears, ' ' but ' ' within a month, ' ' 

Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears 
Had left the flushing in her galled eyes, 
She married. — I. ii. 154. 

She passionately loves her son, and "lives almost by his 
looks," but her love, selfish rather than sympathetic, does not 
enable her to understand him. The bitterness of his reproofs and 
the strangeness of his behavior drive her almost mad, so that 
the Ghost is constrained to bid Hamlet "step between her and 
her fighting soul," reminding him that "Conceit in weakest 
bodies strongest works. ' ' After Hamlet has exhibited her crimes 
to her sick soul, "Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss." 

The play affords no evidence that she connived at her hus- 
band's murder. On the contrary, all the evidence points to the 
fact that her first knowledge of the crime came from Hamlet. 
Her surprise at the charge of killing a king was not feigned, and 
her conscience was not touched, as Claudius' was, during the 
representation of the Interlude. Moreover, the ghost of her first 
husband appeared to retain some affection for her, and had 
warned Hamlet not to taint his mind or let his soul contrive 
aught against her. Finally, when once she learned the manner of 
her husband 's death she took the part of Hamlet against Claudius, 
from whom henceforth she hid all her "dear concernings. " 

Again, her kind and loving treatment of the sweet Ophelia 
will always "plead with angel tongues" against her accusers. 
"The affection of the wicked queen for this gentle and innocent 
creature is one of those beautiful and redeeming touches, one of 
those penetrating glances into the secret springs of natural and 
feminine feeling, which we find only in Shakespeare." — *Mrs. 
Jameson, 

* Mrs. Jameson, ned Anna Brownell Murphy, born at Dublin, 1794 ; died 1860. 
An extensive writer on art and literature. 



32 HAMLET 



"The timid, self-indulgent, sensuous, sentimental queen is 
as remote from true woman's virtue as Claudius is from the vir- 
tues of royal manhood." — *Dowden. 

"In the queen we discern the confidence of a guilty mind, 
that by the artifice of self-deceit, has put to silence the upbraid- 
ings of conscience." — f Richardson. 

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 

In the analysis of Hamlet's character, we will endeavor, first 
to discover what Hamlet was, by nature and by education, before 
the period of the play; then by observing his attitude toward 
those who surrounded him, and his behavior under all circum- 
stances we may arrive at a correct appreciation of those mental 
and moral qualities, the sum of which constitutes what is known 
as character. 

Hamlet may be regarded as having been fair of countenance, 
for he was of Scandinavian descent, and of a somewhat phleg- 
matic, not to say indolent, disposition. He was of slight build, 
as may be gathered from the comparison he draws between his 
uncle and his father, 

My father's brother, but no more like my father 
Than I to Hercules.— I. ii. 152. 

His mother's statement that "he is fat, and scant of breath," 
need not be taken literally, for she is speaking under the influence 
of great emotion and great fear, and in her love for her son she 
naturally exaggerates the contrast which he presents to the 
more striking figure of Laertes. Undoubtedly he inherited from 
his father 

A station like the herald Mercury, 

New-lighted on a heaven -kissing hill. — III. iv. 58; 

* Dowden, Edward, born at Cork, Ireland, 1843; still alive (1916). An 
eminent Irish critic and poet. 

t Richardson, William, born at Aberfoyle, Scotland, 1743 ; died 1814. A noted 
Scotch essayist, poet, and Shakespearean scholar. 



INTKODUCTION 33 



and the amiability of his countenance and the grace of his 
person made him the darling of the Queen, who "lives upon his 
looks," and of the populace, "who like not with their judgment, 
but their eyes." Admitting that Ophelia regarded him with 
partial eyes, and allowing for natural exaggeration, he is still a 
noble and princely youth : 

The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword; 
The expectancy and rose of the fair state, 
The glass of fashion, and the mould of form, 
The observed of all observers. — III. i. 156. 

"Pleasing in form, polished by nature, courteous from the 
heart, he was meant to be the pattern of youth, and the joy of 
the world." — *Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. 

By nature Hamlet was of a cheerful though quiet disposition. 
In his childhood he had played with Yoriek, "a fellow of infinite 
jest, of most excellent fancy, ' ' whose lips he had kissed he knew 
not how often. He had delighted in those "flashes of merriment, 
that were wont to set the table on a roar." The melancholy 
which he exhibits in the course of the play appears to his former 
friends and acquaintance unnatural and unaccountable : 

(Something have you heard 
Of Hamlet's transformation; so I call it, 
Since nor the exterior nor the inward man 
Eesembles that it was. — II. ii. 4. x . 

In the play he is humorous and witty, and is cheerful and unre- 
served when he forgets his troubles, as in his first interview with 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or when he entertains the strolling 
players, II. ii. (But his disposition to humor is often changed by 
the pressure of circumstances. This is manifest in his satiric 
conversations with Polonius and Osric, or in his quaint, familiar 

* Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1749 ; died 
1832. A famous German poet, dramatist, and prose-writer ; the greatest name in 
German literature. 



34 HAMLET 



language, recalling perhaps the habits of a former and almost 
forgotten age, as when he addresses the Ghost, 



Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art thou there, truepenny? 
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage, — I. v. 132. 



) 



He is by nature a hater of shams, a despiser of artifice and dis- 
simulation, scrupulous even in the smallest matters, a seeker after 
the truth, a true friend, a gentle and devoted son, and a warm but 
not passionate lover. 

"One of the deepest characteristics of Hamlet's nature is a 
longing for sincerity, for truth in mind and manners, an aver- 
sion from all that is false, affected, or exaggerated." — *Dowden. 

1 ' To a frame of mind naturally strong and contemplative, but 
rendered by extraordinary events skeptical and intensely 
thoughtful, he unites an undeviating love of rectitude, a dispo- 
sition of the gentlest kind, feelings the most delicate and pure, 
and a sensibility painfully alive to the smallest deviation from 
virtue or propriety of conduct." — f Drake. 
(f? His first thought after receiving the injunction of his father's 
ghost is to 

wipe away all trivial fond records, 
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, 
That youth and observation copied there. — I. v. 81. 

He frequently expresses himself in abstractions and generalities, 
thus indicating a cultivated mind. This he does even when most 
violently moved, as when he says, 

My tables, — meet it is I set it down, 

That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. — I. v. 89; 

and again 

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. — I. v. 1£8. 

* See footnote, p. 32. 

t Drake, Nathan, born at York, England, 1776 ; died 1836. An English phy- 
sician and author. 



INTRODUCTION 35 



He has left the University of Wittenberg, and is living in a 
gay and frivolous court. He "keeps aloof," and continues his 
studies. He is a critic of the drama, and can appreciate "an 
excellent play, well digested in the scenes, set down with as much 
modesty as cunning. ' ' He has some experience in writing dramas, 
and has studied the actor's art and everything pertaining to it. 
(See III, ii. 1-40.) 

' ' He is essentially a man of letters ; he carries memorandum 
books with him; allusions to his reading are ready to him; in 
advanced years he was still at the University, and longed to 
return there. . . . No royal ambition urges him to the society of 
his equals ; his associate is the scholar Horatio, the friend of his 
school days and his fellow-student." — *Oervinus. 

He abhors the custom of drinking, and the "heavy headed 
revel" which then seemed to characterize the Danish court. ' ' To 
my mind," he says, 

though I am native here 
And to the manner born, — it is a custom 
More honour 'd in the breach than the observance. — I. iv. 14. 

The mind is his kingdom, and his thoughts and speculations are 
more to him than are the common realities of life. The ambition 
of Fortinbras stirs him not. \ His mother's want of modesty and 
shame, and the king's grossness affect him more profoundly than 
does the crime of murder. In refinement and culture he is in 
advance of his age. ' ' Forgive me this my virtue, ' ' he says to his 
mother, 



For in the fatness of these pursy times 

Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg, 

Yea, curb and woo, for leave to do him good. — III. iv. 151. 



"Pure in sentiment, he knew the honorable-minded, and 
could prize the rest which an upright spirit tastes on the bosom 

* See footnote, p. 30. 



36 HAMLET 



of a friend. To a certain degree, he had learned to discern and 
value the good and the beautiful in arts and sciences; the mean 
and the vulgar were offensive to him ; and if hatred could take 
root in his tender soul, it was only so far as to make him prop- 
erly despise the false and changeful insects of a court, and play 
with them in easy scorn." — * Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Appren- 
ticeship. 

"Exquisitely sensible of moral beauty and deformity, he dis- 
cerns turpitude in a parent. Surprise, on a discovery so pain- 
ful and unexpected, adds bitterness to his sorrow." — t Rich- 
ardson. 

"0 what a noble mind is here o'erthrown !" cries out Ophelia 
at the end of that interview in which Hamlet so successfully 
played the part of a man "blasted with ecstasy"; and she goes 
on to speak of 

that noble and most sovereign reason, 
Like sweet bells jangled. — III. i. 162, 

from which we may infer how high had been his reputation for 
intellectual power. With shrewd penetration he reads correctly 
the thoughts, the motives, and the character of others, and is not 
deceived by Polonius, by his former school-fellows, nor by Ophelia. 
' ' In Hamlet he seems to have wished to exemplify the moral 
necessity of a due balance between our attention to the objects of 
our senses, and our meditation on the workings of our minds — 
an equilibrium between the real and imaginary worlds. In Ham- 
let this balance is disturbed; his thoughts, and the images of 
his fancy, are far more vivid than his actual perceptions. . . . 
Hence we see a great, an almost enormous, intellectual activity, 
and a proportionate aversion to real action consequent upon it. ' ' 
— %Coleridge. 

* See footnote, p. 33. 
t See footnote, p. 32. 
t See footnote, p. 25. 



INTRODUCTION 37 



His grief for his dead father is profound ; he carries his image 
constantly in his mind : 

Earn. My father! — methinks I see my father. 

Eor. Where, my lord? 

Ham. In my mind's eye, Horatio. — I. ii. 183. I 

He has all the sensibilities of a meditative nature, and though 
he is not demonstrative, yet he is unable to repress entirely the 
outward indications of what is going on within him. He says 
truly, ' ' I have that within which passeth show. ' ' His emotion is 
shown by his irritability towards his uncle and his mother ; it is 
evident in his weaknesses exhibited later on in sudden and violent 
passions followed by complete exhaustion: 

He weeps for what is done. — IV. i. 27. 

And thus awhile the fit will work on him; 
Anon, as patient as the female dove, 
When that her golden couplets are disclosed, 
His silence will sit drooping. — V. i. 308. 

His apparent cruelty and rudeness towards Ophelia result 
probably from his attempts to restrain his overwrought emotions. 
His wavering attitude with respect to religion is due to a con- 
tinued conflict between his emotions and his reason, between 
instinctive faith and intellectual doubt. 

' ' Hamlet is not merely or chiefly intellectual ; the emotional 
side of his character is quite as important as the intellectual; 
his malady is as deep seated in his sensibilities and in his heart 
as it is in the brain. If all his feelings translate themselves into 
thoughts, it is no less true that all his thoughts are impregnated 
with feeling. ' ' — *Dowden. 

The characteristics which most impress the student or the 
spectator of the play are Hamlet's settled melancholy and his 
irresolution. His melancholy often renders him sarcastic and 
morose; his irresolution gives rise to indolence, doubts, incon- 

* See footnote, p. 32. 



38 HAMLET 



sistency, fatalism, and impulsive action. This melancholic dispo- 
sition becomes manifest at the very outset of the drama when he 
appears with "dejected haviour of the visage," mourning for his 
father. The Queen beseeches him, 

Do not, for ever, with thy vailed lids 

Seek for thy noble father in the dust. — I, ii. 70. 

His uncle bids him "throw to earth this unprevailing woe." 
The company passes out and he is left alone. His first words 
indicate the depths of despair to which he has fallen through 
grief and through indulgence in a mysterious foreboding of evil : 

O, that this too too solid flesh would melt, 
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! — I. ii. 129. 

Polonius has observed his melancholy, and puts his own false 
construction upon it, 

And he, repulsed — a short tale to make — 

Fell into a sadness; then into a fast; — II. ii. 147. 

In conversation with his old school-fellows Hamlet describes 
the change that has taken place within him. 

1, I have of late — but wherefore I know not — lost all my mirth, 
forgone all custom of exercises; and, indeed, it goes so heavily 
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me 
a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look 
you, — this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof 
fretted with golden fire, — why, it appears no other thing to me 
but a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. — II. ii. 312. \ 

Thus lie has come to look with a jaundiced eye upon all 
nature, physical and human, in which he once delighted. He 
speculates on death, and meditates suicide; he "walks for hours 
together" in the palace hall, his gait and visage bespeaking woe. 
The king fears him, 

There's something in his soul, 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; — III. i. 169. 



INTRODUCTION 39 



After the Players' recitation he refers to his melancholy, ingeni- 
ously weaving it into one of the many excuses by which he 
habitually deceives himself as to the cause of his inaction. "Per- 
haps," he says, "the devil 

Out of my weakness, and my melancholy, 
As lie is very potent with such spirits, 
Abuses me to damn me: — II. ii. 641. 

He haunts graveyards, he is stirred to a passionate excitement 
at the sight of Laertes, "whose grief bears such an emphasis," 
and would "make a match with him in shedding tears." 

His wit and humor of former days have now become bitter 
sarcasm or withering irony. He speaks of the king in terms of 
haughty disdain or of scornful disgust. During the Interlude 
he takes a keen delight in lashing the king's conscience, 

'Tis a knavish piece of work: but what of that? your majesty, 
and we that have free souls, it touches us not: let the galled jade 
wince, our withers are unwrung. — III. ii. 238. 

His mocking words are daggers to the queen, his mother : 

For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise, 
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib, 
Such dear concernings hide? — III. iv. 182. 

Under the cloak of madness he utters cutting truths to Polonius, 
to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and plays satirically with the 
foppish courtier, Osric. He endangers his own safety by ad- 
dressing words of double meaning to his uncle, the king, who is 
all the while suspicious of him. "Farewell, dear mother," he 
says to him on leaving for England, 

King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. 

Sam. My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man and 
wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. — IV. iii. 54. 

i First his father's death throws him into profound grief; 
then the impropriety of his mother's behavior, her ingratitude 
to the memory of her former husband, and her choice of such 



40 HAMLET 

a man as Claudius to be her second spouse, offend his refined 
spirit, and afflict his soul. Add to these causes a suspicion of 
his uncle's guilt, which suspicion later becomes a certainty, a 
consciousness of his duty to avenge his father's death, and a 
knowledge of the difficulty of performing this duty. All these 
causes, acting upon a nature formed for meditation and a tranquil 
life, throw him into a state of melancholy which soon becomes a 
permanent condition. \ 

"It has been objected to the character of Hamlet, whose most 
striking feature is profound melancholy, that its keeping is 
broken in upon by an injudicious admixture of humor and 
gaiety ; but he who is acquainted with the workings of the human 
heart will be far, very far indeed, from considering this as any 
deviation from the truth of nature. Melancholy, when not the 
offspring of an ill-spent life . . ., will sometimes spring with 
playful elasticity from the pressure of the heaviest burden, and 
dissipating, for a moment, the anguish of a breaking heart, will, 
like a sunbeam in a winter's day, illumine all around it with a 
bright but transient ray ... an interchange which serves but 
to render the returning storm more deep and gloomy. ' ' — *Drake. 
|lt may be well to consider, under various aspects, Hamlet's 
irresolution as the predominating feature of his complex charac- 
ter. After pointing out the different occasions upon which he 
exhibits it, we shall show how it acts upon other phases of his 
character, making him inconsistent, skeptical, a fatalist, cunning, 
and even cruel. We shall further show how it brings its own 
punishment not only upon Hamlet himself, but upon others as 
well; and finally we shall attempt an explanation of its cause. 

1. He does nothing immediately after receiving the Ghost's com- 

mands. We shall indicate later that his madness was not 
assumed with any view of furthering his revenge. 

2. He allows two months to pass without taking any steps to 

compass his object. 
* See footnote, p. 34. 



INTRODUCTION 41 



3. He neglects the opportunity to kill the king while the king is 

at prayer. His decision to allow him to escape at such a 
moment is only part of his general irresolution. 

4. He trusts the judgment of Horatio rather than his own to 

watch the effect of the play upon the king. Having at- 
tained his purpose, he rejoices in the success of his strata- 
gem, but this confirmation of his suspicions leads to no 
action on his part. 

5. He allows himself to be sent to England, away from the 

object of his revenge. 

6. The promptings of his heart forbid the encounter with Laertes, 

V. ii. 224, but he heeds not these promptings nor will he 
listen to the advice of Horatio, V. ii. 231, to postpone the 
duel. 
After listening to the Players he shows that he is sensible 
of his weakness. Contrasting himself with the Actor, he says : 
What would he do, 
Had he the motive and the cue for passion 
That I have?— II. ii. 597. 

For it cannot be 
But I am pigeon-liver 'd, and lack gall 
To make oppression bitter; or, ere this, 
I should have fatted all the region kites 
With this slave's offal.— II. ii. 615. 

He touches the secret of his indecision in his famous soliloquy 
on death and suicide when he says : 

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 

And enterprises of great pith and moment, 

With this regard, their currents turn awry, 

And lose the name of action. — III. i. 80. 

When the Ghost comes between him and his terrified mother, 
he knows, before it speaks, that the visitation is to remind him 
of his ' ' almost blunted purpose : ' ' 



42 



HAMLET 



Do you not come your tardy son to chide 

That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by 

The important acting of your dread command? — III. iv. 105. 

Again the consciousness of his own irresolution strikes him most 
forcibly by contrast with the impetuous ardor of Fortinbras : 

How all occasions do inform against me, 
And spur my dull revenge! — IV. iv. 31. 

How stand I, then, 
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain 'd, 
Excitements of my reason and my blood, 
And let all sleep?— IV. iv. 55. 

Finally, in conversation with Horatio, he shows how clearly it is 
his duty to slay the king that had killed his father, stained his 
mother, excluded himself from the throne, and angled for his life : 

is't not perfect conscience, 
To quit him with this arm? and is't not to be damn'd 
To let this canker of our nature come 
In further evil?— V. ii. 67. 

"There is no indecision about Hamlet, as far as his own sense 
of duty is concerned; he knows well what he ought to do, and 
over and over again he makes up his mind to do it." — *Coleridge. 

To such an extent does irresolution work upon Hamlet's 
character that it tends to give the superficial reader a false im- 
pression of his true nature. In the following paragraphs we 
have attempted to show to what extent his character changes 
under this influence. 

Infirmity of purpose, joined to a natural nobility of instinct 
and impulse, cannot fail to lead to many inconsistencies. In 
this respect Hamlet resembles the great majority of mortals, 

Who see the right and do approve it too, 
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.f 

Not only are Hamlet's actions inconsistent with his opinions, 
his purposes, and his thoughts, but his thoughts themselves are 

* See footnote, p. 25. t Compare Ovid Met. vii. 29. 



INTEODUCTION 43 



inconsistent with one another. This kind of inconsistency is 
manifested generally in his reflections on matters connected with 
religion. "We may discern it in his skepticism. 

At the beginning of the play he is an adherent of all the 
dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church. He believes in pur- 
gatory, in hell, in the devil, and in the miraculous power of con- 
fession, holy communion, and extreme unction. At one time he 
gives credence to the re-appearance of the dead in order to 
reveal and punish murder ; at another time he speaks of 

The undiscover 'd country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns. — III. i. 76. 

In one breath he declares, "It is an honest ghost, that let me tell 
you;" in another, he strives to persuade himself that 

The spirit that I have seen 
May be the devil.— II. ii. 638. 

Toward the end of the play, reason almost ceases to be his guide. 
He has persuaded himself that 

Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, 
When our deep plots do pall. — V. ii. 8. 

His carefully prepared schemes prove abortive, because, though 
full of purpose, he is "void of that quality of the mind which 
accomplishes purpose. ' ' — * Coleridge. He willingly allows himself 
to drift, and becomes a fatalist. He "worships fatality, and he is 
apt to regard whatever pertains thereto as incontestable, solemn, 
and beautiful. . . . The unbending, malignant goddess is 
more acceptable than the divinity, who only asks for an effort 
that shall avert disaster." — t Maeterlinck. He excuses his inac- 
tion by attributing it to a decree of fate: 

There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 
Eough-hew them how we will. — V. ii. 10 

* See footnote, p. 25. 

t Maeterlinck, Maurice, born 1864 ; still living 1916. A noted Belgian poet. 



44 HAMLET 



are the words with which he disclaims responsibility for his own 
questionable conduct, e. g. the opening the sealed packet and 
sending his school-fellows to death. Before the duel with 
Laertes he again gives expression to his fatalistic convictions. 

There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be 
now, 'tis not to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be 
not now, yet it will come. — V. ii. 234. 

' ' Hamlet has no firm belief either in himself or in anything 
else ; from expressions of religious confidence he passes over to 
skeptical doubts. . . . He has even gone so far as to say, 
'There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it 
so. ' ' ' — *8chlegel. 

"Thus all through the play he wavers between materialism 
and spiritualism, between belief in immortality and disbelief, 
between reliance upon providence and a bowing under fate." — 
fDowden. 

"Shakespeare's teaching is, that if the nobler-gifted man 
who stands at the head of the commonwealth, allows himself to 
be driven about by every wind of the occasion, instead of fur- 
thering his better aims with all his strength and energy of 
will, the wicked, on their part, will all the more easily carry out 
their own ends." — %Feis. 

As is usually the case with irresolute persons, Hamlet fre- 
quently acts from impulse or from blind passion. The conse- 
quence is he often performs deeds of which he afterwards repents. 
Such are the murder of Polonius and the struggle with Laertes 
in the grave. At other times he acts without reflection and 
afterwards persuades himself that he has done wisely. On the 
ship he acts before he can ' ' make a prologue to his brains, ' ' and 
becomes accessory to the murder of two innocent men. His 
impulsiveness is in reality but a sign of his irresolution. He 

* Schlegel, August Wilhelm von, born at Hanover, Germany, 1767 ; died 1845. 
A celebrated German critic and poet, 
t See footnote, p. 32. 
t Feis, Jacob, author of Shakespeare and Montaigne, published in 1884. 



INTEODUCTION 45 



follows his father's ghost in a state of wild excitement, uttering 
the threat, "By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets me." 
"When the travelling players arrive in Elsinore he proposes 
immediate action. "We'll e'en to 't like French falconers fly 
at anything we see : we '11 have a speech straight. ' ' And when 
at last he stabs the king the action is unpremeditated. This 
irresolution has the further evil effect of making him a deceptive, 
shrewd, and cunning contriver. He sacrifices innocent men with 
cold premeditation and rejoices at their destruction: 

For 'tis the sport, to have the enginer 

Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard, 

But I will delve one yard below their mines, 

And blow them at the moon: 0, 'tis most sweet, 

"When in one line two crafts directly meet. — III. iv. 199. 

"He who is so irritable an enemy to all dissimulation, false- 
hood, and cunning, venturing not upon the straight path to 
action, he himself takes the crooked way of cunning circum- 
locution and deceiving dissimulation." — *Gervinus. 

1 1 He is made for honesty, and he is compelled to practice a 
shifting and subtle strategy; thus he comes to waste himself 
in ingenuity and orafty device." — \Dowden. 

To resist temptation is to strengthen character, to give way 
to it is to weaken the power of resistance. Hamlet gives way 
to his natural tendency to think rather than to act. Conse- 
quently his character deteriorates as has been shown on p. 40 
and seq. The effect of his irresolution upon himself is a continual 
torture of mind which he expresses thus: 

Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting 
That would not let me sleep: methought I lay 
Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. — V. ii. 4. 

It results in his own death and in the death of others, of the 
innocent as well as of the guilty. Horatio promises to explain 

* See footnote, p. 30. t See footnote, p. 32. 



46 HAMLET 



the dismal sight with which the play concludes. ' ' So shall you 
hear," he says, 

Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts, 
Of . accidental judgments, casual slaughters, 
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forced cause; 
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook 
Fall'n on the inventors' heads. — V. ii. 399. 

"In the first tumult of his feelings, and without adequate 
cause, he throws away the fair flower of Ophelia's love, which 
he himself had planted and watered ; with inconsiderate rashness 
he kills the old dotard Polonius in mistake for the guilty king, 
and so brings upon himself the blame of causing Ophelia's 
madness and death. By a just retribution a tragic end over- 
whelms Hamlet himself, so quickly and unexpectedly, that he 
has scarcely time for the hurried and precipitate accomplish- 
ment of his long meditated purpose." — *TJlrici. 

The irresolution of Hamlet appears to arise from several 
causes, of which the following seem to be the principal : 

1. He is naturally prone to think rather than to act. Being 

continually wrapped in thought he forgets action: 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. — III. i. 81. 

But this cause alone is not enough to account for his inde- 
cision, for the necessity for action is often borne in upon 
him. 

2. Moral scruples and a Christian spirit deter him. The par- 

ticular action that is required of him is most abhorrent to 
his sensitive and scrupulous spirit. He hesitates lest he 
should do 

such bitter business as the day 
Would quake to look on. — III. ii. 404. 

* See footnote, p. 30. 



INTRODUCTION 47 



3. The difficulty of his task he expresses in the lines : 

The time is out of joint: — O cursed spite, 
That ever I was born to set it right! — I. v. 171. 

His vivid imagination exaggerates the difficulties, and his 
natural modesty fills him with a sense of his own insufficiency. 

"To me it is clear that Shakespeare meant, in the present 
case, to represent the effects of a great action laid upon a soul 
unfit for the performance of it. In this view the whole piece 
seems to me to be composed. An oak is planted in a costly jar, 
which should have contained only the sweetest flowers ; the root 
expands, the jar is burst asunder. 

"A lovely, pure, noble, and most moral nature, without the 
strength of nerve which forms a hero, sinks beneath a burden 
which it cannot bear and must not cast away." — * Goethe, Wil- 
helm Heist er's Apprenticeship. 

"Hamlet is called upon to assert moral order in a world of 
moral confusion and obscurity. He has not an open plain or a 
hillside on which to fight his battle ; but a place dangerous and 
misleading, with dim and winding ways. ... In the wide- 
spreading waste of corruption which lies around him, he is 
tempted to understand and detest things, rather than accom- 
plish some limited practical service. In the unweeded garden 
of the world, why should he task his life to uproot a single 
weed?" — \Dowden. 

We think Laertes estimates Hamlet's conduct towards 
Ophelia by the standard of his own behavior, when he speaks of 
"the trifling of his favour," and bids her regard it as a pastime, 

Forward, not permanent; sweet, not lasting, 
The perfume and supplianee of a minute; 
No more. — I. iii. 8. 

But even he did not — as some critics have done — charge Hamlet 
with practicing conscious deception upon Ophelia: 

* See footnote, p. 33. t See footnote, p. 32. 



48 HAMLET 



Perhaps he loves you now; 
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
The virtue of his will. — I. iii. 14. 

Of Ophelia's love for him there can be no doubt, although she 
never confesses it. She yields, perhaps, too ready an obedience 
to her brother and her father, but she certainly places a most 
implicit trust in the honor of her lover, 

My lord, he hath importuned me with love, 
In honourable fashion. — I. iii. 110. 

The interview described by Ophelia, but not presented on the 
stage, takes place after Hamlet has seen his father's Ghost and 
received his injunctions. No doubt Hamlet on this occasion 
approaches Ophelia with the intention, which he afterwards car- 
ries out, of renouncing woman, "the begetter of all evil in the 
world, who makes such monsters of wise men. ' ' The depth of 
the love he feels for her is clearly shown by the picture of the 
agony he suffers at taking leave of her, when 

He raised a sigh so piteous and profound, 
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk, 
And end his being.— II. i. 90. 

He continues to love her, but he will not have her know it. When 

he says, 

Soft you now I 
The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons 
Be all my sins remember 'd. — III. i. 85, 

the words are not intended to reach her ears. When she turns 
to him he feigns madness again, perhaps with a view, as Lamb 
says, "to alienate Ophelia by affected discourtesies, so to pre- 
pare her mind for the breaking off of that loving intercourse, 
which can no longer find a place amidst business so serious as 
that which he has to do. ' ' We believe he speaks from his heart 
of hearts when he exclaims: 



INTRODUCTION 49 



I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers 
Could not, with all their quantity of love, 
Make up my sum. — V. i. 292. 

"His conduct to Ophelia is quite natural in his circum- 
stances. It is that of assumed madness only. It is the effect of 
disappointed hope, of bitter regrets, of affection suspended, not 
obliterated, by the distractions of the scene around him. 
. . . He could neither marry Ophelia nor wound her mind 
by explaining the cause of his alienation, which he durst hardly 
trust himself to think of. . . . In the harassed state of his 
mind, he could not have done much otherwise than he did." — 
*Hazlitt. 

"I do think, with submission, that the love of Hamlet for 
Ophelia is deep, is real, and is precisely the kind of love which 
such a man as Hamlet would feel for such a woman as Ophelia. ' ' 
— \Mrs. Jameson. 

"He loved her more than a thousand brothers, with all their 
love put together could have done." — %Heine. 

The question is someties asked, Was Hamlet really mad, or 
did he merely assume madness? Common sense at once replies 
that he was perfectly sane, and that he feigned madness only 
that he might deceive others. Medical authorities are at vari- 
ance on the point, probably owing to the difficulty they experi- 
ence in attaching a precise and definite significance to the word 
madness. We may consider his conduct under three phases : 

1. When he both appears to be and is periectly sane. 

2. When he appears mad but is only feigning madness, as in 

(a) His interview with Polonius, whom he wishes to de- 
ceive, II. ii; 



* Hazlitt, William, born at Maidstone, England, 1778 ; died 1830. An English 
critic and essayist. 

t See footnote, p. 31. 

X Heine, Heinrich, born at Dtisseldorf, Germany, 1799 ; died at Paris, 1856. 
A celebrated German lyric poet and critic, of Hebrew descent. 



50 HAMLET 

(b) His interview with Ophelia, whom he cannot trust with 

his secret, III. i ; 

(c) His interview with Claudius, whom he wishes both to 

deceive and to punish, IV. iii. 
3. "When, under the immediate influence of some stupendous 
shock, his intellect staggers, but is not overthrown, as 

(a) After seeing his father's spirit, I. v; 

(b) On hearing of Ophelia's death and perceiving Laertes' 

manifestations of grief, V. i. 

It is only in this third phase that Hamlet's conduct lends 
color to the assumption that he is really mad, and not merely 
"mad in craft." "We acknowledge, as he himself does, that on 
the first of the two occasions referred to, his mind was disordered 
and his disposition horribly shaken "With thoughts beyond the 
reaches of our souls, ' ' and that on the second occasion he forgets 
himself, and that, too, for insufficient reason: 

But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me 
Into a towering passion. — V. ii. 79. 

But if to be violently agitated, and in our agitation to perform 
actions which in our saner moments we should not dream of, is 
to be mad, which of us is sane ? 

The obvious reasons for considering Hamlet's madness as 
feigned, are: 

1. His actions are perfectly sane until his interview with the 

Ghost. After this interview he warns his friends that he 
may perchance "put an antic disposition on." 

2. He appears mad only in the presence of those whom he wishes 

to deceive. He talks rationally and shows great intellectual 
power in conversation with Horatio, his school-fellows, the 
Players, and in his soliloquies. 

3. He earnestly and urgently exhorts his mother not to "lay 

that flattering unction to her soul" that he is speaking to 



INTEODUCTION 51 



her "in madness," offering to prove to her his perfect 
sanity : 

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time, 
And makes as healthful music; it is not madness 
That I have utter 'd: bring me to the test, 
And I the matter will re-word; which madness 
Would gambol from. — III. iv. 138. 

4. When he does forget himself, he afterwards recognizes the 
fact and repents of it. 

"Harassed from without, and distracted from within, is it 
wonderful, if during his endeavor to conceal his thoughts, he 
should betray inattention to those around him, incoherence of 
speech and manner? . . . Hamlet was fully sensible how 
strange those involuntary improprieties must appear to others; 
he was conscious he could not suppress them; he knew he was 
surrounded with spies; and was justly apprehensive, lest his 
suspicions or purposes should be discovered." — * Richardson. 

To prevent these consequences, and at the same time, to 
afford himself breathing time, he counterfeits insanity. 

"He assumes madness as a means of concealing his actual 
disturbance of mind. His over-excitability may betray him ; but 
if it be a received opinion that his mind is unhinged, such an 
excess of over-excitement will pass unobserved and unstudied." 
— \Dowden. 

"The disguise which he had adopted was not accidentally 
chosen. The subtlety of his intellect directed him to that tone 
of wayward sarcasm in which, while he appeared to others to 
be merely wandering, the bitterness of his soul might be re- 
lieved by the utterance of 'wild and whirling words.' But even 
in this disguise, his intellectual supremacy is constantly mani- 
fested. ' ' — %Knigkt. 

* See footnote, p. 32. 
t See footnote, p. 32. 

t Knight, Charles, born at Windsor, England, 1791 ; died 1873. An English 
publisher and author. 



52 HAMLET 

Polonius 

Polonius is a man who has grown gray in courts where he 
has imbibed many a lesson of servility, adulation, and worldly 
prudence. Of real wisdom he possesses not a trace, and he for- 
feits all claim to the respect which his age ought to gain for 
him, by his paltry cunning, garrulity, and overweening self- 
confidence. 

He is, in fact, in his second childhood, or, as Rosencrantz 
says, "Happily he's the second time come" to his "swathing- 
clouts. " All his actions betray his self-conceit, and he does 
not hesitate to proclaim his own high opinion of himself. He 
is confident he has found the cause of Hamlet's madness: 

Hath there been such a time — I'd fain know that — , 
That I have positively said, ' ' 'Tis so, " 
When it proved otherwise? — II. ii. 154, 

he asks the king, and when the king replies, "Not that I know," 

continues, 

Take this from this, if this be otherwise: 
If circumstances lead me, I will find 
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre. — II. ii. 157. 

And further he stakes his reputation as a statesman upon the 
truth of his statements, 

If he love her not, 
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, 
Let me be no assistant for a state, 
But keep a farm and carters. — II. ii. 165. 

There is nothing he cannot do, if we may believe him. He poses 
as a critic of literature and the drama, and says that in his 
younger days he "was accounted a good actor." It is even a 
matter for boasting with him that in his youth he "suffered 
much extremity for love ; very near this," referring to Hamlet's 
apparent distraction. 



INTRODUCTION 53 



Falling in love with the sound of his own voice, he speaks 
on every subject, delights in puns and "foolish figures," uses 
many words in which to clothe little matter, forgets in the middle 
what he was saying, and with a perversity as strange as it is true 
to nature, utters wise maxims and sins against them in the same 
breath, as when he says, 

Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, 
And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, 
I will be brief.— II. ii. 90, 

and then by his loquacity draws upon himself the Queen's 
rebuke, "More matter, with less art," and at another time 
elicits Hamlet's ejaculation, "These tedious old fools." His 
folly arises almost entirely from his self-conceit. He considers 
his strength lies in penetration, whereas he is in reality most 
easily deceived. Being filled with a most exalted notion of his 
own shrewdness, and feeling sure that Hamlet is mad, he fails 
to see that he himself is a laughing stock and the object of the 
Prince's pointed satire. His folly is apparent to others besides 
Hamlet; hence when the latter bids the Player "follow that 
lord," he warns him at the same time, "And look you mock 
him not. ' ' After Hamlet has slain Polonius in mistake for the 
king, and has discovered his error, he drags forth the corpse, 
and thus sums up his character in a few words, 

Indeed, this counsellor 
Is now most still, most secret, and most grave, 
"Who was in life a foolish prating knave. — III. iv. 204. 

Polonius is just the man to suit the king. Faithful in 
service, not too scrupulous nor too penetrating, he is a most 
useful instrument in the hands of the greater villain, Claudius, 
who speaks of him to Laertes with gratitude, 

The head is not more native to the heart, 

The hand more instrumental to the mouth, 

Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. — I. ii. 47. 



54 HAMLET 



He serves his master with assiduity and officiousness, and de- 
clares, 

I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, 

Both to my God, and to my gracious king. — II. ii. 44. 

For him, to be deceitful is to be wise, and he takes it to be the 
mark of a courtier, "too much proved," 

that with devotion's visage, 
And pious action, we do sugar o'er 
The de^vil himself.— III. i. 47. 

"For crooked ways, for side-thrusts, for eaves-dropping, he 
has an unwearied predilection, to which he is at length sacri- 
ficed." He sets a spy upon his son's actions in Paris, and be- 
lieves "it is a fetch of warrant." He thinks that to use a 
"bait of falsehood" in order to take "a carp of truth" is a 
token "of wisdom and of reach." In the end he falls a victim 
to his meddlesomeness and taste for eaves-dropping: 

Thou wretched, rash, intruding fool, farewell! 
I took thee for thy better: take thy fortune; 
Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger. — III. iv. 31. 

As Goethe* says, he speaks like a book when he is prepared 
beforehand, and like an ass when he utters the overflowings 
of his heart. His parting speech to Laertes is full of worldly 
wisdom. As long as he confines himself to generalities his 
advice may be safely followed, but when he advises in particular 
instances, as in the case of Hamlet's relations with Ophelia, he 
generally overshoots the mark. Yet, even for his unwarranted 
suspicion, he has an excuse to offer in a maxim which sounds 
much like wisdom, 

beshrew my jealousy! 
By heaven, it is as proper to our age 
To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions, 
As it is common for the younger sort 
To lack discretion. — II. i. 109. 



■* See footnote, p. 33. 



INTRODUCTION 55 



As a father he has been something of a martinet, exacting 
ready obedience from both his children. He loves them, and is 
anxious that they should stand well with the world. Therefore, 
he has kept Ophelia apart from the demoralizing tendencies of 
the court, and he is solicitous that Laertes should commit no act 
in Paris by which his reputation might suffer. But his ideas of 
education are, to say the least, peculiar; immorality, gaming, 
drinking, or swearing are trifling offences in his opinion. 

"Polonius is a perfect character in its kind; nor is there any 
foundation for the objections which have been made to the con- 
sistency of this part It is said that he acts very foolishly and 
talks very sensibly. There is no inconsistency in that. Again, 
that he talks wisely at one time and foolishly at another, that his 
advice to Laertes is very excellent, and his advice to the King 
and Queen on the subject of Hamlet's madness very ridiculous. 
But he gives the one as a father and is sincere in it; he gives 
the other as a mere, courtier, a busy-body, and is accordingly 
officious, garrulous, and impertinent." — *Hazlitt. 

"A maxim is a conclusion upon observation of matters of 
fact, and is merely retrospective . . . Polonius is a man of 
maxims. While he is descanting on matters of past experience, 
as in that excellent speech to Laertes before he sets out on his 
travels, he is admirable ; but when he comes to advise or project, 
he is a mere dotard. ... A man of maxims only is like a 
cyclop with one eye, and that eye placed in the back of his 
head. ' ' — t Coleridge. 

"Arrived at a ripe age, the schooled courtier lacks not ex- 
perience and observation, which he has carefully gathered and 
loquaciously gives forth ; the self-conceit of emptiness is appar- 
ent in him, and with the same self-sufficiency he gives good 
precepts to his son, a lesson on human nature to his servant, and 
counsels to his king."" — %Gervinus. 

* See footnote, p. 49. t See footnote, p. 25. $ See footnote, p. 30. 



56 HAMLET 



"The shrewd, wary, subtle, pompous, garrulous old cour- 
tier. ' ' — *M rs. Jameson. 

Laertes 

Laertes is an impetuous youth "of great showing," "the 
card or calendar of the gentry, ' ' a man of action, and the great- 
est possible contrast to Hamlet. 

He is determined in the attainment of his object and unscru- 
pulous as to the means he adopts to attain it. "By laboursome 
petition" he overbore his father's reluctance to allow him to 
return to Paris, and "at last," says Polonius, "Upon his will 
I sealed my hard consent." He allows no obstacle to stand in 
the way of his revenge, and is willing even to cut the murderer's 
throat "i' the church." He who is described as "the continent 
of what part a gentleman should be ' ' is deterred by no scruples 
of conscience, no considerations of honor. He poisons the tip 
of the sword with which he is to "play" with Hamlet, 

I'll touch my point 
With thia contagion, that, if I gall him slightly, 
It may be death. — IV. vii. 145. 

Such is his determination that he can even exercise patience in 
the pursuit of his revenge. Having heard of his father's death 
and his °ecret burial, he at once returns from France, but, being 
doubtful of the cause, and suspecting no one of foul play towards 
the old courtier, he "Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in 
clouds," until suspicion is cast upon the King. Then he allows 
free play to his impetuosity, 

The ocean, overpeering of his list, 
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste 
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, 
O'erbears your officers. — IV. v. 85. 

* See footnote, p. 31. 



INTRODUCTION 57 



No dread of "the undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
no traveller returns" puzzles him. "To this point I stand," 
he says, 

That both the worlds I give to negligence, 
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged 
Most throughly for my father. — IV. v. 117. 

Not all the world shall stay him, and for his means, he'll hus- 
band them so well ' ' They shall go far with little. ' ' At the sight 
of Ophelia's madness his frenzy is still further excited, 

By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, 
Till our scale turn the beam. — IV. v. 139. 

No wonder, then, that the King afterwards confided to his wife 

How much I had to do to calm his rage! 

Now fear I this will give it start again. — IV. vii. 191. 

With characteristic impetuosity and violence he shows his 
grief on hearing of Ophelia's death. He does not, forever, with 
"vailed lids" seek for his father and his sister in the dust. 
Tears gush forth, 

nature her custom holds, 
Let shame say what it will. — IV. vii. 186. 

When she is laid in her grave he leaps in after her to catch 
her once more in his arms, and his grief bears such an emphasis, 
says Hamlet, that it 

Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand, 
Like wonder-wounded hearers. — V. i. 279. 

Rumors of his wildness must have reached the ears of 

Ophelia; otherwise the meek and gentle maiden could never 

have replied to his fraternal advice in this sharp and spirited 
speech, 

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, 
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, 



58 HAMLET 



Whilst, like a puffed and reckless libertine, 
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 
And recks not his own rede. — I. iii. 47. 

He has come from the gay city to see the coronation, and 
as soon as that is over he returns thither with all speed. His 
father, knowing him to be addicted to 

such wanton, wild, and usual slips 
As are companions noted and most known 
To youth and liberty,— II. i. 22, 

has, with reluctance, allowed him to return to Paris, but having 
given his permission, he sends Reynaldo there to spy upon his 
actions; so little confidence has the mistrustful father in the 
son's prudence and self-restraint. 

"Laertes is the cultured young gentleman of the period. He 
is accomplished, chivalric, gallant, but the accomplishments are 
superficial, the chivalry theatrical, the gallantry of a showy 
kind. He is master of events up to a certain point, because he 
sees their coarse, gaudy, superficial significance. It is his part 
to do fine things and make fine speeches. . . . 

"No overweight of thought, no susceptibility of conscience 
retard the action of the young gallant. He readily falls in 
with the king's scheme of assassination, and adds his private 
contribution of villainy — the venom on his rapier's point." — 
*Dowden. 

Contrast Between Laertes and Hamlet 

Laertes is a man of action ; Hamlet a speculative philosopher. 
Laertes takes no time for thought, but rushes impetuously toward 
his object; Hamlet is too much taken up with thought to allow 
of action. Laertes overcomes every obstacle and uses every 
opportunity ; Hamlet has fewer obstacles to overcome and neg- 
lects them. Laertes sullies his knightly honor by poisoning his 
weapon; Hamlet is of a nature so free and generous that he 

* See footnote, p. 32. 



INTRODUCTION 59 



does not so much as "peruse the foils." With Hamlet revenge 
is a religious duty, a duty to his country, to his murdered father 
and to himself ; with Laertes it is a matter of honor only. And 
what a contrast there was between the murdered fathers ! the one, 

A combination, and a form, indeed, 

Where every god did seem to set his seal. 

To give the world assurance of a man, — III. iv. 60, 

the other, a "foolish prating knave," a ridiculous, tedious, pry- 
ing, self-complacent sinner. 

"Laertes is the opposite and the pendant to Hamlet. The 
position of both is nearly the same. Laertes, too, has to avenge 
the death of a father and sister. His soul, however, kindles at 
once with passionate ardor. Rejecting all deliberation, his 
resolutions burst forth at once into action, and it is with diffi- 
culty that the persuasive eloquence of the King succeeds in 
restoring him to self-possession, and the adoption of artifice and 
dissimulation. ' ' — * JJlrici. 

"Laertes, somewhat of a hero a la mode, a fencer, a knight 
of honor of the French school, of temperament as choleric as 
Hamlet's is melancholy, a man utterly unendowed with the 
splendid physical and mental gifts of Hamlet, flees from the 
distant Paris to Denmark to avenge the death of his father. ' ' — 
\Gervinus. 

Ophelia 

"Rose of May," "sweet maid," she possesses more of the 
qualities of the heart than of the head. Although she appears 
but rarely in the play, and though half the time she is "divided 
from herself and her fair judgment," "Without the which we 
are pictures, or mere beasts, ' ' yet her influence is felt throughout 
the play, and her purity and innocence afford relief and repose 
amidst the worldliness, the mystery, and the dissimulation which 
characterize most of the other personages of the drama. 

* See footnote, p. 30. f See footnote, p. 30. 



60 HAMLET 

Unlike her father and her brother, she possesses no knowledge 
of the world or of its wickedness, and she remains untouched by 
the vitiating influences of court life, "Unsifted in such perilous 
circumstance ; ' ' and hence, when she falls in love with Hamlet 
and he with her, she devotes herself, heart and soul, to him, and, 
until restrained by the influence of her father and her brother, 
has of her "audience been most free and bounteous." Her 
innocent mind contains no secrets, and she answers readily every 
question put to her on the subject of her lover. 

"We must not suppose that Hamlet's strictures on women, 
III. i., are addressed specially to Ophelia, or that they imply any 
stain on the virtue or honesty of the docile maid. His upbraid- 
ings are directed against the sex in general, and are inspired 
most probably by the recent conduct of his own mother. It is 
more than possible, also, that Ophelia acts her part so poorly that 
Hamlet is able to see from her gestures and behavior that the 
meeting is being watched. His one anxiety appears to be that 
her innocence and purity may remain unspotted while in contact 
with the world, and hence he urges her, ' ' Get thee to a nunnery. 
. . . "We are arrant knaves, all ; believe none of us. Go thy ways 
to a nunnery." 

Frivolous and shallow though he be, Laertes can yet appre- 
ciate and reverence the beauty and purity, of his sister's brief 
life. "Lay her i' the earth," he commands the priest, 

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest, 
A ministering angel shall my sister be, 
When thou liest howling. — V. i. 262. 

Ophelia's one fault of character is excessive docility. She 
listens meekly to her brother's precepts, and promises, 

I shall the effect of this good lesson heep, 
As watchman to my heart. — I. iii. 45; 

and in all things she obeys her father, in opposition to the 
promptings of her own heart. She shows him the letters that are 



INTRODUCTION 61 



in her keeping, and by his command denies all further interviews 
to Hamlet. She even allows herself to be used as a snare whereby 
the Prince 's secrets may be discovered, and offers no protest when 
Polonius bids her play the part of a dissembler, reading on a book, 

That show of such an exercise may colour 
Your loneliness. — III. i. 45. 

Her love for Hamlet is stronger than her discretion. Al- 
though she never declares her love in words, yet we know her 
heart is given entirely to him. We can believe that ' ' she would 
hang on him, ' ' 

As if increase of appetite had grown 
By what it fed on. — I. ii. 144. 

We know she "suck'd the honey of his music vows," and that 
his loss makes her "of ladies most deject and wretched." And 
yet we imagine her love is not such that Hamlet can derive 
strength from it, or that it can enable her to understand him. 
The Queen hopes in vain that her virtues "Will bring him to 
his wonted way again, ' ' to the honor of them both. She was born 
to live in an atmosphere of calm and comfort, not to strive with 
the conflicting forces of the world. 

"The Margaret of Goethe* and Ophelia of Shakespeare had 
perforce to yield mutely to fate, for they were so feeble that 
each gesture they witnessed seemed fate's own gesture to them. 
But yet, had they only possessed some fragment of Antigone 's 
strength — the Antigone of Sophocles — would they not then have 
transformed the desires of Hamlet and Faust as well as their 
own ? ' ' — ] Maeterlinck. 

Unlike the apparently random utterances of Hamlet, whose 
speech "was not like madness" but had method in it, Ophelia's 
"speech is nothing," or carries "but half -sense." She alter- 
nates between laughter and tears, and in her thoughts, flowers 
and prettiness are strangely intermingled with the wickedness 

* See footnote, p. 33. f See footnote, p. 43. 



62 HAMLET 



of the world's ways. Her conversation about her father is 
"interlarded with sweet songs." She becomes a mere picture, 
* ' incapable of her own distress, ' ' but in her ruin, beautiful still 
as ever, 

Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, 

She turns to favour, and to prettiness. — IV. v. 171. 

As Mrs. Jameson* has said : "It is not the suspension, but the 
utter destruction of the reasoning powers; it is the total imbe- 
cility which, as medical people well know, frequently follows 
some terrible shock to the spirits. Constance is frantic ; Lear is 
mad; Ophelia is insane. Her sweet mind lies in fragments 
before us — a pitiful spectacle ! ... It belonged to Shakespeare 
alone so to temper such a picture that we can endure to dwell 
upon it. 

1 ' Ophelia — poor Ophelia ! Oh, far too soft, too good, too fair, 
to be cast among the briers of this working-day world, and fall 
and bleed upon the thorns of life ! "What should be said of her ? 
for eloquence is mute before her! Like a strain of sad, sweet 
music, which comes floating by us on the wings of night and 
silence, and which we rather feel than hear — like the exhalation 
of the violet, dying even upon the sense it charms — like the 
snowflake, dissolved in air before it has caught a stain of earth — 
like the light surf severed from the billow, which a breath dis- 
perses; such is the character of Ophelia." a 

Horatio 

Horatio, in contrast to all the other characters of the play, 
is the representative of common-sense and honesty. He is the 
one man upon whose judgment Hamlet can rely when all others 
fail him. He alone affords a happy contradiction to the Player's 
general statement, 

The great man down, you mark his favourite flies; 

The poor advanced makes friends of enemies. — III. ii. 202. 

* See footnote, p. 31. 



"L 



INTEODUCTION 63 



Perfect calmness of mind and equability of temperament 
are his chief characteristics. He is nothing in extremes. A 
scholar, but not a pedant; he is skeptical, but open to convic- 
tion ; though not essentially a man of action, as Fortinbras is, he 
is able to bear his part in the action of the world. He is great 
in his power of endurance, for he has been — < 

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; 

A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards 

Has ta'en with equal thanks: and blessed are those, 

Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled, 

That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger 

To sound what stop she please. — III. ii. 72. 

Hamlet confides in his discretion, and relies upon his calmness 
and absence of bias to observe the King's demeanor during 
the acting of the play. Horatio resembles Hamlet in his hatred 
of all that is shallow, affected, or false, and takes no trouble to 
conceal his contempt for the " lapwing" Osrie. He is the soul 
of honor, but holds in no esteem the world's false notions of 
honor. Therefore, he begs of Hamlet to postpone his fencing bout 
with Laertes, because he sees that the mind of his friend is not 
attuned to such a contest, and because he discerns disaster in 
the issue. Being "more an antique Roman than a Dane," he 
possesses the firmness of heart, and carelessness about his own 
life, of a Brutus or a Cato, and would have emulated their exam- 
ple and died with his friend had not Hamlet reminded him that 
there remained for him a duty yet to be performed. 

He is the only man of all those by whom Hamlet is sur- 
rounded who seeks no material advantage for himself. He pos- 
sesses the entire confidence of the prince, and into his bosom 
Hamlet unburdens himself of "the fulness and swellings of 
the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce." 
From Horatio, Hamlet derives the support he needs to preserve 
what balance of mind he still retains ; to him he communicates 
his suspicions, his griefs, and his designs; without Horatio's 



64 HAMLET 



sympathy, Hamlet would have fallen into a condition of perma- 
nent despair and pessimism, from which no effort could have 
aroused him. And Horatio loved Hamlet as he loved his own 
life; he alone was fully conscious of the true nobility of the 
prince's character, and therefore the poet has appropriately 
given it to him to speak those words of praise over his dead body, 

Now cracks a noble heart: — good night, sweet prince; 
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! — V. ii. 377. 

"The qualities that distinguish Horatio, and render him 
worthy of the esteem of Hamlet, are not affluence, nor pa- 
geantry, nor gay accomplishments, nor vivacity, nor even wit, 
and uncommon genius, too often allied to an impetuous temper : 
he is distinguished by that equanimity and independence of soul 
which arise from governed and corrected passions, from a sound 
and discerning judgment." — * Richardson. 

"Horatio's equanimity, his evenness of temper, is like solid 
land to Hamlet, after the tossings and tumult of his own heart. ' ' 
— \Dowden. 

Fortiribras 

Fortinbras, the nephew of the King of Norway, a prince, 
' ' delicate and tender, ' ' but spirited and ambitious, forms a con- 
trast to both Hamlet and Horatio. He is a man of action, and is 
never happy unless engaged in "some enterprise that hath a 
stomach in it. ' ' Being, as Horatio says, ' ' Of unimproved metal 
hot and full," he engages in martial enterprises merely for the 
sake of fighting. He furnishes Hamlet an example which he is 
quick to admire, but powerless to follow. "Examples gross as 
earth, exhort me," says Hamlet, 

Witness this army, of such mass and charge, 
Led by a delicate and tender prince; 
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd, 
Makes mouths at the invisible event; 

* See footnote, p. 32. t See footnote, p. 32. 



INTRODUCTION 65 



Exposing what is mortal, and unsure, 

To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, 

Even for an egg-shell. — IV. iv. 46. 

He is obedient to his uncle, the King of Norway, who, appre- 
ciating his spirit of adventure, pardons his indiscretion and fur- 
nishes him with assistance that he may satisfy his craving for 
action. As he is single-minded and keeps the end to be attained 
ever in view, he is successful. 

He returns victorious from his expedition against Poland, an 
expedition ' ' That hath in it no profit but the name, ' ' and receives 
Hamlet's dying voice for his election to the sovereignty of Den- 
mark. The sound of war is music to him, scenes of death a 
' ' feast. " " Such a sight as this, ■ ' he says, referring to the scene 
of carnage with which the play concludes, "Becomes the field, 
but here shows much amiss." He grieves over the series of 
disasters that has made his own fortunes, and pays a soldier's 
tribute to Hamlet, 

Let four captains 

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stagey 

For he was likely, had he been put on, 

To have proved most royally. — V. ii. 413. 

"With none of the rare qualities of the Danish Prince, he 
excels him in plain grasp of ordinary fact. Shakespeare knows 
that the success of these men who are limited, definite, positive, 
will do no dishonor to the failure of the rarer natures to whom 
the problem of living is more embarrassing, and for whom the 
tests of the world are stricter and more delicate." — *Dowden. 

Osric 

Osric is a representative of the showy aud fashionable cour- 
tier of Elizabeth's reign, rather than a type of Danish society. 
His wealth and territorial possessions secure him a position at 
court, — "he hath much land, and fertile" — his slender intel- 

* See footnote, p. 32. 



66 HAMLET 

lectual equipment leads him to ape the latest fashion set by a few 
brilliant spirits, scholars, and litterati (Lyly and his fellow- 
Euphuists) ; but, like all imitators and converts, he goes farther 
than his models, whose purpose he misunderstands. He mistakes 
extravagance and absurdity of diction for wit, ridiculous for- 
mality for true politeness and courtliness, and affectation for 
originality : 

Thus has he (and many more of the same breed, that, I 
know, the drossy age dotes on) only got the tune of the time, 
and outward habit of encounter; a kind of yesty collection, 
which carries them through and through the most fond and 
winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to their trial, the bub- 
bles are out. — V. ii. 1P8. 

He is superficial and shallow, forward and insincere. He either 
fails to see or pretends not to see that he is a mark for the con- 
tempt of Horatio and a butt for the satire and mimicry of Ham- 
let. From the dying words of Laertes we may infer that Osric 
was a party to the final treachery against Hamlet, 

Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric; 

I am justly killed with mine own treachery. — V. ii. 326, 

a confession he receives without betraying any mark of aston- 
ishment. 

Rosencrantz and Guildenstem 

Eosencrantz and Guildenstem had been fellow-students of 
Hamlet at "Wittenberg, and were much beloved by him. "Good 
gentlemen," says the Queen, 

he hath much talk'd of you; 
And, sure I am, two men there are not living 
To whom he more adheres. — II. ii. 19. 

They are received with cordiality by the Prince, and are 
entertained without reserve until he perceives they have been 
corrupted by the King. They are typical of men whose inclina- 
tions are good, but who lack character to follow their own inelina- 



INTRODUCTION 67 



tions. They cannot even practice villainy with success. "You 
were sent for," says Hamlet, "and there is a kind of confession 
in your looks, which your modesties have not craft enough to 
colour." They commit no actual crime in the play, and are 
apparently no worse than the society in which they move. 
Hamlet tells Rosencrantz that he "soaks up" 

the king's countenance, his rewards, his authorities; he keeps 
them, like an ape doth nuts, in the corner of his jaw; first 
mouthed, to be last swallowed: when he needs what you have 
gleaned, it is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be dry 
again, IV. ii. 17. 

They are fools more than they are knaves, but Shakespeare 
knows that folly is often more harmful than knavery. When 
death is meted out to them as a punishment for their base servil- 
ity, Hamlet satisfies himself with the reflection, 

Why, man, they did make love to this employment; 
They are not near my conscience; their defeat 
Does by their own insinuation grow. — V. ii. 57. 

He feels no compunction at their fate, and though their punish- 
ment is severe, they leave the world no poorer for their loss. 

"Wilhelm Meister translates Hamlet and adapts it for the 
stage ; a difficulty arises in finding characters to fill all the parts, 
and Serlo, the stage manager, suggests that Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern should be compressed into one. 'Heaven preserve 
me from all such curtailments!' answered Wilhelm, 'they de- 
stroy at once the sense and the effect. What these two persons 
are and do, it is impossible to represent by one. In such small 
matters, we discover Shakespeare's greatness. These soft ap- 
proaches, this smirking and bowing, this assenting, wheedling, 
flattering, this whisking agility, this wagging of the tail, this 
allness and emptiness, this legal knavery, this ineptitude and 
insipidity, — how can they be expressed by a single man ? There 
ought to be at least a dozen of these people, if they could be 
had: for it is only in society that they are anything; they are 



68 HAMLET 

society itself, and Shakespeare showed no little wisdom and dis- 
cernment in bringing in a pair of them.' " — *Goethe. 

The Gravediggers 

The Gravediggers are characters interesting from many- 
viewpoints. They represent the lower stratum of society and so 
they help to complete the picture of social conditions as presented 
in the play. They afford relief from the excitement and tension 
of preceding scenes. They belong to the type of workmen with 
which we are familiar at the present day. They sing and dally 
over their work, they argue with each other and discuss topics 
which they cannot comprehend, but nevertheless with a consid- 
erable amount of common-sense. They are tinged with socialism 
and are at enmity with the privileged class. They freely express 
their views on the legality of Ophelia 's burial in sanctified ground. 
Hamlet remarks of them, ' ' By the Lord, Horatio, these three years 
I have taken note of it ; the age is grown so picked, that the toe 
of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his 
kibe. ' ' The First Clown seeks to show his cleverness and ingenuity 
in words — "How absolute the knave is!" says Hamlet. The 
gravedigger reasons and philosophizes with Hamlet, the prince 
of philosophers. 

The Ghost 

- I am thy father's spirit. — I. v. 9. 

"The awful horror excited by the foregoing passage is 
accomplished by simplicity of expression, and by the uncertainty 
of the thing described. The description is indirect, and by 
exhibiting a picture of the effects which an actual view of the 
real object would necessarily produce in the spectator, it affects 
us more strongly than by a positive enumeration of the most 
dreadful circumstances. The imagination left to her own inven- 
tions, overwhelmed with obscurity, travels far into the regions of 

* See footnote, p. 33. 



INTRODUCTION 59 



terror, into the abysses of fiery and unfathomable darkness." — 
*Bichardson. 

XII. ABSTRACT OP THE PLAY 
ACT I 

The king of Denmark dies suddenly at the royal castle of 
Kronborg, at Elsinore, and almost immediately his widow, Ger- 
trude, marries the king's brother, Claudius. This hasty and 
unnatural marriage begets a suspicion in the mind of her son, 
Hamlet, that his father, the king, has been the victim of foul 
play. One night, shortly after the king's burial, the sentinels at 
the royal castle are frightened by the appearance of a ghost, 
which strongly resembles the dead king. They inform Hamlet, 
who accompanies them on the next night's watch, encounters the 
ghost, and learns from it that Claudius, the usurper, had poi- 
soned the king while he slept, and had circulated the report that 
he had been stung by a serpent. Hamlet swears vengeance 
against Claudius and the ghost vanishes. 

ACT 11 

That he may the more easily carry out his designs, Hamlet 
feigns madness. His assumed madness shows itself first in con- 
nection with Ophelia, with whom he is in love. He treats her 
rudely, writes her rambling, meaningless letters, and perplexes 
her with wild, incoherent conversation. A company of strolling 
players visit the palace, and Hamlet suggests that they produce 
a play before the court, through which he hopes to confirm his 
suspicions of Claudius' guilt. 

act m 

The play portrays the murder of a Venetian duke, and the 
subsequent precipitate marriage of the murderer and his vic- 
tim's widow. The story closely resembles the case of Claudius 

* See footnote, p. 32. 



70 HAMLET 



and Gertrude. During the progress of the play Hamlet watches, 
intently the effect on Claudius. As Hamlet had suspected, 
Claudius sees the portrayal of his own crime under different 
form, and hurriedly leaves the company. Hamlet is now thor- 
oughly convinced of the usurper's guilt, and renews his resolve 
to wreak Vengeance on him. Gertrude also is much agitated by 
the purport of the play, and sends for Hamlet that she may 
reproach him with having offended the king. Hamlet replies 
in scathing, yet respectful, terms, and convinces his mother that 
his father met his death at the hands of Claudius. During this 
interview Hamlet kills Polonius (a courtier), father of Ophelia, 
whom he detects playing the part of a spy. 

ACT IV 

Claudius decides that Hamlet must leave the country, and 
he directs Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, school companions of 
Hamlet, to accompany the prince to England. He gives them a 
letter to the English king, which letter, while pretending to be 
in the interest of Hamlet's health, contains secret orders for his 
immediate death. 

On the voyage Hamlet learns the contents of the letter, and 
substitutes one of his own which orders the immediate execution 
of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern on their arrival in England. 
Shortly after this, Hamlet's boat is attacked by pirates, and in 
the conflict Hamlet boards the pirates' ship and is carried back 
to Denmark, while Rosencrantz and Guildenstern escape and 
proceed to their doom. Hamlet returns to Elsinore just in time 
for the funeral of Ophelia, who, driven insane by grief over the 
madness of her lover, and the death of her father, had drowned 
herself. 

act v 

In a paroxysm of grief, Hamlet disputes Laertes' position 
as chief mourner and a quarrel ensues. Laertes blames Hamlet 



INTEODUCTION 71 



for the death of Ophelia, and the murder of his father, Polonius, 
and tries to kill him. 

Claudius takes advantage of this feud to accomplish the death 
of Hamlet. He advises Laertes to challenge Hamlet to a pre- 
tended friendly bout at fencing, and by apparent accident, to 
stab him to death. Laertes accepts the king's suggestion and 
adds to the treachery by putting poison on the point of his 
sword. To make doubly sure of Hamlet's death Claudius has 
poisoned wine placed near Hamlet so that in the heat of the con- 
flict he will drink it. At the outset of the contest Hamlet shows 
greater skill than does Laertes, and the queen in toasting him, 
by mistake drinks the poisoned cup. Laertes wounds Hamlet, 
but in doing so loses his sword. In the ensuing scuffle weapons 
are exchanged and Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poison- 
tipped foil. The queen dies from the effects of the poisoned 
wine. Laertes, in dying, confesses the plot against Hamlet; 
Hamlet stabs the king to death, and then dies himself. 

XIII. DURATION OF THE PLAY 

Day 1. — Act I., Sc. i., ii., iii. 
Day 2. — Act I., Sc. iv., v. 

There is a considerable interval between Acts I. and II., 
which has been put down as two months for (1) Hamlet speaks 
of his father "But two months dead," I. ii. 138, whilst Ophelia 
says, "Nay, 'tis twice two months," III. ii. 129. This gives an 
interval of at least two months. 

Such an interval would give time: 

1. For money to be sent to Laertes. ' ' Give him this money and 

these notes, Reynaldo," II. i. 1. 

2. The return of the Ambassadors from Norway. 

Their departure is mentioned, I. ii. 33-34, and their return, 
II. ii. 40-41. 



72 HAMLET 



Day 3. — Act II., Sc. i., ii. 

Day 4. — Act III., Sc. i., ii., iii., iv. Act IV., Sc. i., ii., iii. 

Day 5.— Act IV., Sc. iv. 

An interval which it is impossible to estimate. Shakespeare 
seems to have overlooked the fact that Hamlet's sudden 
return is irreconcilable with the return of the Ambassadors 
from England the day after his own return. 

We have : 

1. The return of Hamlet, "sudden and more strange/' for which 

a week is sufficient if not, indeed, too long. He had sailed 
two days on the voyage to England and returned immedi- 
ately and unexpectedly. 

2. The return of the Ambassadors from England. They had 

set out with Hamlet, and had gone to England. Yet they 
return the day after Hamlet's arrival. 

3. The return of Laertes from Paris. 

4. The return of Portinbras. We must assign sufficient time for 

him to have marched to Poland, to have won his victory, and 

to have returned. 
Clearly the sudden return of Hamlet cannot be fitted in with. 

the time required by Laertes, the Ambassadors, and Fortin- 

bras. 
Critics differ from the space of a week to the extent of two 
months. 

Day 6. — Act IV., Sc. v., vi., vii. 
Day 7. — Act V., Sc. i., ii. 

Seasons. — The opening scene cannot have been later than March. 
" 'Tis bitter cold," I. i. 8. 
The flowers gathered by Ophelia must have been plucked late 
in May or early in June. This incident gives the time of 
the later scenes. 



HAMLET, PRINCE OF DENMARK 



Uramaiis persmta?. 



^Claudius, King of Denmark. 
Hamlet, Son to the former King, 

and Nephew to the present. 
Horatio, Friend of Hamlet. 
Polonius, Lord Chamberlain. 
Laertes, his Son. 

volttmand, 
Cornelius, 
Rosencrantz, yCourtiers. 

GuiLDENSTERN, 
OSRIC. 

Marcellus, \ omcers 
Bernardo. / u ^ cers - 

Francisco, a Soldier. 



Reynaldo, Servant to Polonius. 

A Captain. 

Ambassadors. 

Ghost of Hamlet's Father. 

Fortinbras, Prince of Norway. 

Two Clowns, Gravediggers. 

Gertrude, Queen of Denmark and 
Mother to Hamlet. 

Ophelia, Daughter to Polonius. 

Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, 
Players, Sailors, Messengers, 
and Attendants. 
Scene: Elsinore. 



ACT I. 

Scene I. Elsinore. A Platform before the Castle. 
Francisco at his post. Enter Bernardo. 

Bernardo. Who's there? 

Francisco. Nay, answer me : stand, and un- 
fold yourself. 

Bernardo. Long live the king! 

Francisco. Bernardo? 

Bernardo. He. 

Francisco. You come most carefully 1 upon 
your hour. 

Bernardo. "lis now struck 2 twelve; get thee 
to bed, Francisco. 

Francisco. For this relief much 3 thanks : 'tis 
bitter cold, 
And I am sick at heart. 

Bernardo. Have you had quiet* guard? 

73 



punctually 

2 an anachron- 
ism 
3 many 

^undisturbed 



74 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Francisco. Not a mouse stirring. 10 

Bernardo. Well, good night. 
If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus, 
The rivals 1 of my watch, bid them make haste. 

Francisco. I think I hear them. — Stand, ho! 
Who is there? 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Horatio. Friends to this ground 2 . 

Marcellus. And liegemen to the Dane. 

Francisco. Give you good night. 

Marcellus. O, farewell, honest soldier: 

Who hath relieved you? 

Francisco. Bernardo hath my place. 

Give you good night. [Exit. 

Marcellus. Holla! Bernardo! 

Bernardo. Say, what, is Horatio there? 

Horatio. A piece of him. 

Bernardo. Welcome, Horatio ; welcome, good 
Marcellus. 20 

Marcellus. What, has this thing appear'd 
again to-night? 

Bernardo. I have seen nothing. 

Marcellus. Horatio says 'tis but our fantasy, 3 
And will not let belief take hold of him 
Touching this dreaded* sight, twice seen o/ 5 us: 
Therefore I have entreated him along 
With us to watch the minutes of this night, 
That if again this apparition come, 
He may approve 6 our eyes and speak to it. 

Horatio. Tush, tush, 'twill not appear. 

Bernardo. Sit down awhile; 30 

And let us once again assail your ears, 
That are so fortified against our story, 
What we have two nights seen. 

Horatio. Well, sit we down, 

And let us hear Bernardo speak of this. 

Bernardo. Last night of all, 
When yond same star that's westward from the 
pole 



Associates 



^country 



Hmagination 



^dreadful 



6 prove, verify 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



75 



Had made his course to illume that part of heaven 
Where now it burns, Marcellus and myself, 

The bell then beating 1 one ■ 

Marcellus. Peace, break thee off; — look, 
where it comes again! 40 

Enter Ghost. 

Bernardo. In the same figure, like the king 

that's dead. 
Marcellus. Thou art a scholar; speak to it, 

Horatio. 
Bernardo. Looks it not like the king? mark 

it, Horatio. 
Horatio. Most like : it harrows me with fear 

and wonder. 
Bernardo. It would be spoke 2 to. 
. Marcellus. Question it, Horatio. 

Horatio. What art thou, that usurp'st this 
time of night, 
Together with that fair and warlike form 
In which the majesty of buried Denmark 3 
Did so7netimes i march? by heaven, I charge thee, 
speak! 
Marcellus. It is offended. 
. Bernardo. See, it stalks away. 50 

Horatio. Stay! speak, speak! I charge thee, 
speak! [Exit Ghost. 

Marcellus. 'Tis gone, and will not answer. 
Bernardo. How now, Horatio! you tremble, 
and look pale: 
Is not this something more than fantasy? 
What think you on'tP 
Horatio. Before my God, I might 5 not this 
believe 
Without the sensible and true avouch 7 
Of mine own eyes. 
Marcellus. Is it not like the king? 

Horatio. As thou art to thyself : 
Such was the very armour he had on 60 

When he the ambitious Norway 8 combated; 



l striking 



2 spoken 



3 king of 
formerly 



5 o/ it 
6 could 

''warrant 



8 king of 



76 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



So frowned he once, when, in an angry park, 1 
He smote the sledded Polack on the ice. 
Tis strange. 
Marcellus. Thus twice before, and jump 2 at 

this dead hour, 
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch. 
Horatio. In what particular thought to work 

I know not; 
But, in the gross and scope 3 of my opinion, 
This bodes some strange eruption to our state. 
Marcellus. Good now, sit down, and tell me, 

he that knows, 70 

Why this same strict and most observant watch 
So nightly toils the subject of the land, 
And why such daily cast* of brazen cannon, 
And foreign mart 5 for implements of war; 
Why such impress 6 of shipwrights, whose sore 

task 
Does not divide 7 the Sunday from the week; 
What might be toward^ that this sweaty haste 
Doth make the night joint-labourer with the 

day: 
Who is't that can inform me? 

Horatio. That can I ; 

At least, the whisper goes so. Our last king, 60 
Whose image even but now appear 'd to us, 
Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, 
Thereto spurr'd on by a most emulate 9 pride, 
Dared 10 to the combat; in which our valiant 

Hamlet — 
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him — 
Did slay this Fortinbras; who, by a seal'd com- 
pact, 
Well ratified by law and heraldry, 
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands 
Which he stood seized of, u to the conqueror: 
Against the which, a moiety competent 12 
Was gaged 13 by our king; which had u returned 
To the inheritance of Fortinbras, 



parley 
2 just 

3 general range 



lasting 
^market 
^pressed into 
service 

7 distinguish 
8 near at hand 



9 envious 
10 challenged 



n possessed of 
^sufficient por- 
tion 
13 pledged 
u would have 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



77 



Had he been vanquisher; as, by the same cove- 
nant 
And carriage of the article design'd, 
His fell to Hamlet. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, 
Of unimproved metal 1 hot and full, 
Hath in the skirts 2 of Norway here and there 
Shark'd up a list 3 of lawless resolutes* 
For food and diet, to some enterprise 
That hath a stomach 5 in't: which is no other 100 
— As it doth well appear unto our state — 
But? to recover of us, by strong hand 
And terms compulsative, those 'foresaid lands 
So by his father lost: and this, I take it, 
Is the main motive of our preparations, 
The source of this our watch, and the chief head 
Of this post-haste and romage 1 in the land. 

Bernardo. I think it be no other but 8 e'en so : 
Well may it sort, 9 that this portentous figure 
Comes armed through our watch, so like the 

king 110 

That was, and is, the question 10 of these wars. 
Horatio. A mote 11 it is to trouble the mind's 
eye. 
In the most high and palmy 12 state of Rome, 
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted 

dead 
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets: 
As 13 stars with trains of fire and dews of blood, 
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star, 14 
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands, 15 
Was sick almost to doomsday 15 with eclipse: 120 

And even the like precurse 17 of fierce events, 
As harbingers preceding still 13 the fates, 
And prologue to the omen 19 coming on, 
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated 
Unto our climatures and countrymen. 



Settle, courage 
^borders 
3 muster roll 
tfilibusters 

5 stubborn 

courage 
Hhan 



''stir 

Hhan 

^accord 



10 cause 
u an atom 

"prosperous 



u namely 

u the moon 

15 depends 

16 death 

v forewarning 

18 constantly 

19 calamity 



78 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Re-enter Ghost. 

But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again! 
I'll cross it, though it blast me. — Stay, illusion! 
If thou hast any sound, or use of voice, 
Speak to me : 

If there be any good thing to be done, 
That may to thee do ease, and grace to me, 
Speak to me: 

If thou art privy to thy country's fate, 
Which, happily, 1 foreknowing 2 may avoid, 
O, speak! 

Or if thou hast up-hoarded in thy life 
Extorted treasure in the womb of earth, 
For which, they say, you spirits oft walk in 
death, 

[Cock crows. 
stay, and speak! — Stop it, Mar- 



130 



Shall I strike at it with my 



Speak of it 
cellus. 

Marcellus. 

partisan? 3 ' 10 

Horatio. Do, if it will not stand. 

Bernardo. 'Tis here! 

Horatio. 'Tis here! [Exit Ghost. 

Marcellus. 'Tis gone! 
We do it wrong, being so majesticalf 
To offer it the show of violence ; 
For it is, as the air, invulnerable, 
And our vain blows malicious mockery. 

Bernardo. It was about to speak, when the 
cock crew. 

Horatio. And then it started like a guilty 
thing 
Upon a fearful summons. I have heard, 
The cock, that is the trumpet to the morn, 
Doth with his lofty and shrill-sounding throat 
Awake the god of day; and at his warning, 
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air, 
The extravagant 5 and erring 6 spirit hies 
To his confine:* and of the truth herein 
This present object made probation. 8 



^foreknowledge 



6 weapon 



i majestic 



6 rovmg 
e wandering 
7 abode 
8 proof 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



79 



Marcellus. It faded on the crowing of the 

coek. 
Some say, that ever 'gainst that season comes 
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, 
This bird of dawning 1 singeth all night long: 160 
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; 
The nights are wholesome; then no planets 

strike, 
No fairy takes, 2 nor witch hath power to charm, 
So hallow'd and so gracious is the time. 
Horatio. So have I heard, and do in part 

believe it. 
But look, the morn, in russet 3 mantle clad, 
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. 
Break we our watch up; and, by my advice, 
Let us impart what we have seen to-night 
Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life, 170 

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him: 
Do you consent we shall acquaint him with it, 
As needful in our loves, fitting our duty? 
Marcellus. Let's do't, I pray; and I this 

morning know 
Where we shall find him most conveniently. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene II. A Room of State in the Castle. 

Enter the King, Queen, Hamlet, Polonius, 
Laertes, Voltimand, Cornelius, Lords, 
and Attendants. 

King. Though yet of Hamlet our dear 
brother's death 
The memory be green, 4 and that it us befitted 
To bear our hearts in grief, and our whole king- 
dom 
To be contracted in one brow of woe; 
Yet so far hath discretion fought with nature, 
That we with wisest sorrow think on him, 
Together with remembrance of ourselves. 



l cock 



^bewitches 



^reddish 



Hresh in our 
memory 



80 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Therefore our sometime 1 sister, now our queen, 
The imperial jointress 2 of this warlike state, 
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated 3 joy, — 10 

With one auspicious,* and one dropping 5 eye, 
With mirth in funeral, and with dirge 6 in mar- 
riage, 
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,' 1 — 
Taken to wife: nor have we herein barred 9 
Your better wisdoms, which have freely gone 
With this affair along. For all, our thanks. 
Now follows, that you know, 9 young Fortinbras, 
Holding a weak supposal 10 of our worth, 
Or thinking by our late dear brother's death, 
Our state to be disjoint 11 and out of frame, 20 

*Colleagued with the dream of his advantage, 
He hath not fail'd to pester 12 us with message, 
Importing 13 the surrender of those lands 
Lost by his father, with all bonds of law, 
To our most valiant brother. — So much for him. 
Now for ourself, and for this time of meeting: 
Thus much the business is : we have here writ 1 * 
To Norway, 15 uncle of young Fortinbras, — 
Who, impotent 15 and bed-rid, scarcely hears 
Of this his nephew's purpose, — to suppress 

His further gait 11 herein: in that 18 the levies, 
The lists, and full proportions 19 , are all made 
Out of his subject: and we here dispatch 
You, good Cornelius, and you, Voltimand, 
For bearers of this greeting to old Norway; 
Giving to you no further personal power 
To 20 business with the king, more than the scope 
Of these dilated 21 articles allow. 
Farewell, and let your haste commend your duty. 
Cornelius. \ In that and all things will we 
Voltimand. } show our duty. 40 

King. We doubt it nothing: heartily fare- 
well. 

[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius. 



former 

2 joint possessor 
3 marred 
tfiappy looking 
5 shedding tears 
Hamentation 

''grief 
8 excluded 



9 already 
^estimate 

^disjointed 

12 annoy 
^referring to 



u written 
15 king of 
^invalid 



"progress 
1 Hnasmuch as 
19 contingents 



ia for 
"fully 
expressed 



* Co-operated with the idle fancy he entertained of turning the occasion 
to his advantage. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



81 



And now, Laertes, what's the news with you? 
You told us of some suit; 1 what is't, Laertes? 
*You cannot speak of reason to the Dane, 2 
And lose your voice: 3 what wouldst thou beg, 

Laertes, 
That shall not be my offer, not thy asking? 
The head is not more native to* the heart, 
The hand more instrumental to the mouth, 
Than is the throne of Denmark to thy father. 
What wouldst thou have, Laertes? 

Laertes. My dread lord, 

Your leave and favour to return to France ; 
From whence though willingly I came to Den- 
mark, 
To show my duty in your coronation; 
Yet now, I must confess, that duty done, 
My thoughts and wishes bend again toward 

France, 
And bow them to 5 your gracious leave and 

pardon. 6 
King. Have you your father's leave? What 

says Polonius? 
Polonius. He hath, my lord, wrung from 

me my slow 1 leave 
By laboursome a petition, and at last 
Upon his will I sealed my hard 3 consent: 
I do beseech you, give him leave to go. 
King. Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be 

thine, 
And thy best graces spend it at thy will ! 
But now, my cousin 10 Hamlet, and my son, — 
Hamlet. [Aside] A little more than kin, and 

less than kind. 
King. How is it that the clouds still hang on 

you? 
Hamlet. Not so, my lord; I am too much i' 

the sun. 



50 



60 



Request 
2 king of 

Denmark 
3 ask in vain 



Connected tvith 



^solicit 
^permission 



''reluctant 
Haborious 
^obtained with 
difficulty 



10 see Note I. ii. 
64 



* Speak of any reasonable request to the King of Denmark. 



82 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Queen. Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted 1 
colour off, 
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark. 2 
Do not, for ever, with thy vaiUd lids 3 
Seek for thy noble father in the dust : 
Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must 

die, 
Passing through nature* to eternity. 

Hamlet. Ay, madam, it is common. 

Queen. If it be, 

Why seems it so particular with thee? 

Hamlet. Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know 
not "seems." 
Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, 
Nor customary suits of solemn black, 
Nor windy suspiration 5 of forced breath, 
No, nor the fruitful river 5 in the eye, 
Nor the dejected haviour" 1 of the visage, 
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief, 
That can denote* me truly. These, indeed, seem, 
For they are actions that a man might play: 
But I have that within which passeth show ; 
These but the trappings and the suits of woe. 

King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your 
nature, Hamlet, 
To give these mourning duties to your father: 
But, you must know, your father lost a father; 
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor 

bound* 
In filial obligation, for some term™ 
To do obsequious 11 sorrow: but to persever 
In obstinate condolement 12 is a course 
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief: 
It shows a will most incorrect to 13 heaven; 
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient; 
An understanding simple and unschooled: 
For what we know must be, and is as common 
As any the most vulgar 1 * thing to sense^ 
Why should we, in our peevish opposition, 
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven, 



70 



80 



90 



100 



tylack 



*king of 
s drooping eyes 



Hife 



s sighs 
Hears 
^behavior 

^describe 



Hs bound 
10 time 
^■hnourning 
12 sorrow 

13 unsubmissive 
toward 



u common 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



83 



A fault against the dead, a fault to 1 nature, 
To reason most absurd; whose common theme 
Is death of fathers, and who still 2 hath cried, 
From the first corse till he that died to-day, 
"This must be so." We pray you, throw to earth 
This unprevailing 3 woe; and think of us 
As of a father : for let the world take note, 
You are the most immediate* to our throne; 
And with no less nobility of 5 love 110 

Than that which dearest 6 father bears his son, 
Do I impart toward you. For 1 your intent 
In going back to school in Wittenberg, 
It is most retrograde to 8 our desire : 
And we beseech you, bend you 9 to remain 
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye, 
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. 
Queen. Let not thy mother lose her prayers, 

Hamlet: 
I pray thee, stay with us; go not to Wittenberg. 
Hamlet. I shall 10 in all my best obey you, 

madam. 120 

King. Why, 'tis a loving and a fair reply: 
Be as ourself in Denmark. — Madam, come; 
This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet 
Sits smiling to 11 my heart: in grace whereof, 
No jocund health that Denmark 12 drinks to-day, 
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell, 
And the king's rouse 13 the heavens shall bruit u 

again, 
Re-speaking 15 earthly thunder. — Come away. 

[Exeunt all except Hamlet. 
Hamlet. O, that this too too solid flesh would 

melt, 
Thaw, and resolve 15 itself into a dew! 130 

Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd 
His canonp 'gainst self-slaughter! O God! O 

God! 
How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable 
Seem to me all the uses 18 of this world! 
Fieon't! O fie! 'tis an unweeded garden, 



2 always 



Unavailing 

4 next heir 
^ennobling 
6 fondest 
7 as regards 

^opposed to 
9 try to induce 
you 



l0 will 



n near 
12 king o 

13 a bumper 
u report loudly 

^echoing 



ie melt away 
17 law, rule 

ls cwstoms 



84 



HAMLET 



[Act f 



That grows to seed; things rank and gross in 

nature 
Possess it merely. 1 That it should come to this ! 
But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not 

two: 
So excellent a king; that was, to this, 
Hyperion to 2 a satyr : so loving to my mother, 140 
That he might 3 not beteem* the winds of heaven 
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! 
Must I remember? why, she would hang on him, 
As if increase of appetite had grown 
By what it fed on: and yet, within a month, — 

■Let me not think on't,— 'Frailty, thy name is 

~y woman! — 
A little 5 month, or ere those shoes were old 
With which she follow'd my poor father's body, 
Like Niobe, all tears; — why she, even she, — 
O God! a beast, that wants discourse of reason, 150 
Would have mourn'd longer, — married with 

mine uncle, 
My father's brother, but no more like my father 
Than I to Hercules: within a month; 
Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous 6 tears 
Had left the flushing in her galttd 7 eyes, 
She married: — O, most wicked speed! 
It is not, nor 8 it cannot 8 come to good: 
But break, my heart, for I must hold my tongue ! 

Enter Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. 

Horatio. Hail to your lordship ! 

Hamlet. I am glad to see you well : 

Horatio, — or I do forget myself. 160 

Horatio. The same, my lord, and your poor 9 

servant ever. 
Hamlet. Sir, my good friend; I'll change 10 
that name with you : 
And what make you from Wittenberg, Horatio? — * 
Marcellus? 



Absolutely 



^compared to 

3 could 

permit 



5 short 



Hnsincere 
1 sore 

8 double nega- 
tive 



9 humble 
^exchange 



* What are you doing away from Wittenberg? 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



85 



Marcellus. My good lord, — 
Hamlet. I am very glad to see you. [To 
Ber.] Good even, sir. — 
But what, in faith, make 1 you from Wittenberg? 
Horatio. A truant disposition, good my lord. 2 
Hamlet. I would not hear your enemy say so, 
Nor shall you do mine ear that 3 violence 
To make it truster 4 of your own report 
Against yourself: I know you are no truant. 
But what is your affair in Elsinore? 
We'll teach you to drink deep ere you depart. 
Horatio. My lord, I came to see your father's 

funeral. 
Hamlet. I pray thee, do not mock me, fellow- 
student; 
I think it was to see my mother's wedding. 
Horatio. Indeed, my lord, it follow 'd hard 

upon. 5 
Hamlet. Thrift, thrift, Horatio! the funeral 
baked-meats 
Did coldly furnish forth the marriage tables. 
Would I had met my dearest 6 foe in heaven 
Ere 7 1 had ever seen that day, 8 Horatio ! — 
My father! — methinks I see my father. 
Horatio. Where, my lord? 

In my mind's eye, Horatio. 
I saw him once; he was a goodly 



Hamlet. 
Horatio. 

king. 
Hamlet. 

all, 
shall not look upon his like again. 



He was a man, take him for all in 



Horatio. 

night. 
Hamlet. 
Horatio. 
Hamlet. 
Horatio. 

while 



My lord, I think I saw him yester- 

Saw who? 9 

My lord, the king your father. 

The king my father ! 
Season 10 your admiration 11 for a 



170 



180 



190 



*do 

2 my good lord 

3 such 
4 believer 



B close after 



e most bitter 
''before 
^marriage day 



*whom 



ia qualify, 

control 
11 wonder 



86 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



With an attent 1 ear, till I may deliver, 2 
Upon the witness of these gentlemen, 
This marvel to you. 

Hamlet. For God's love, let me hear. 

Horatio. Two nights together had these 
gentlemen, 
Marcellus and Bernardo, on their watch, 
In the dead vast 3 and middle of the night, 
Been thus encounter 'd.* A figure like your 

father, 
Armed at point exactly, cap-a~pe, 5 
Appears before them, and with solemn march 200 
Goes slow 6 and stately by them: thrice he 

walk'd 
By their oppress'd and fear-surprised eyes, 
Within his truncheon's length; whilst they, 

distill'd 7 
Almost to jelly with the act of fear, 
Stand dumb, and speak not to him. This to me 
In dreadful 8 secrecy impart they did; 
And I with them the third night kept the watch: 
Where, as they had delivered, 9 both in time, 
Form of the thing, each word made true and 

good, 
The apparition comes: I knew your father; 210 

These hands are not more like. 

Hamlet. But where was this? 

Marcellus. My lord, upon the platform 
where we watch'd. 

Hamlet. Did you not speak to it? 

Horatio. My lord, I did, 

But answer made it none: yet once, methought, 
It lifted up its head and did address 
Itself to motion, like as 10 it would speak: 
But, even then, 11 the morning cock crew loud; 
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away, 
And vanished from our sight. 

Hamlet. 'Tis very strange. 

Horatio. As I do live, my honour'd lord, 'tis 
true; 220 



Attentive 
2 can relate 



3 vastness 
k met 

5 at all points 
from head to 
foot 

^slowly 



7 melted 

^awestruck 
^related 



10 as if 
n just then 



Scene II] HAMLET 


87 


And we did think it writ 1 down in our duty 


Written 


To let you know of it. 




Hamlet. Indeed, indeed, sirs, but this trou- 




bles me. 




Hold you the watch to-night? 




"!• } We do, my lord. 




Hamlet. Armed, say you? 




"Z } Armed, my .ord. 




Hamlet. From top to toe? 




Bernardo.' } My lord, from head to foot. 




Hamlet. Then saw you not his face? 




Horatio. 0, yes, my lord; he wore his 




beaver up. 




Hamlet. What, look'd he frowningly? 230 




Horatio. A countenance more 




In sorrow than in anger. 




Hamlet. Pale, or red? 




Horatio. Nay, very pale. 




Hamlet. And fix'd his eyes upon you? 




Horatio. Most constantly.' 2 


2 steadily 


Hamlet. I would I had been there. 




Horatio. It would have much amazed you. 




Hamlet. Very like, 3 


Hikely 


Very like. Stay'd it long? 




Horatio. While one with moderate haste 




might tell* a hundred. 


4 count 


Marcellus. } T , 
Bernardo, j Longer, longer. 




Horatio. Not when I saw it. 




Hamlet. His beard was grizzled? 6 no? 


tgray 


Horatio. It was, as I have seen it in his life, 240 




A sable silver'd. 




Hamlet. I will watch to-night ; 




Perchance 'twill walk again. 




Horatio. I warrant it will. 




Hamlet. If it assume my noble father's 




person, 





gg HAMLET 

I'll speak to it, though hell itself should gape 
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you all, 
If you have hitherto conceal' d this sight, 
Let it be tenable 1 in your silence still. 
And whatsoever else shall hap 2 to-night, 
Give it an understanding, but no tongue: 
I will requite your loves. So, fare you well: 250 
Upon the platform, 'twixt eleven and twelve, 
I'll visit you. 
All. Our duty to your honour. 

Hamlet. Your loves, as mine to you: fare- 
well. 

[Exeunt Horatio, Marcellus, and Bernardo. 
My father's spirit 3 in arms! all is not well; 
I doubt* some foul play;* would the night were 

come! 
Till then sit still, my soul: foul deeds will rise, 
Though all the earth o'erwhelm them, to men's 
eyes. 

[Exit. 

Scene III. — A Room in Polonius' House. 
Enter Laertes and Ophelia. 

Laertes. My necessaries are embark'd: fare- 
well: 
And, sister, as 6 the winds give benefit, 
And convoy 7 is assistant, do not sleep, 
But let me hear from you. 

Ophelia. Do you doubt that? 

Laertes. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his 
favor, 
Hold it a fashion* and a toy in blood; 9 
A violet in the youth of primy nature, 
Forward, not permanent, sweet, 10 not lasting, 
The perfume and suppliance 11 of a minute; 
No more. 

Ophelia. No more but so? 

Laertes. Think it no more: 10 

For nature, crescent, 12 does not grow alone 



[Act I 



%ept secret 
2 happen 



3 one syllable 

Suspect 

Hreachery 



^according as 
7 means of con- 
veyance 



Changeable 

9 fancy 

10 two syllables 
n to fill a place 



^growing 



Scene III] 



HAMLET 



89 



In thews and bulk; but as this temple 1 waxes, 

The inward service of the mind and soul 

Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves you now; 

And now no soil 2 nor cautel 3 doth besmirch 4 

The virtue of his will : but you must fear, 

His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own; 

For he himself is subject to his birth: 

He may not, 1 as unvalued* persons do, 

Carve 5 for himself ; for on his choice depends 20 

The safety 7 and health of this whole state; 

And therefore must his choice be circumscribed 

Unto the voice and yielding of that body 

Whereof he is the head. 8 Then if he say s he loves 

you, 
It fits your wisdom so far to believe it 
As he in his particular act and place 
*May give his saying deed; which is no further 
Than the main voice 3 of Denmark goes withal. 
Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain, 
If with too credent 10 ear you list 11 his songs, 30 

Or lose your heart 
To his unmaster'd 12 importunity. 
Fear it, Ophelia, fear it, my dear sister; 
fAnd keep you in the rear of your affection, 
Out of the shot and danger of desire. 
The chariest 13 maid is prodigal enough, 
If she unmask her beauty to the moon: 
Virtue itself 'scapes not calumnious strokes; 
The canker 14 galls the infants of the spring, 
Too oft before their buttons 15 be disclosed; 16 40 

And in the morn and liquid dew of youth 
Contagious blastments 17 are most imminent. 
Be wary, then; best 18 safety lies in fear: 
Youth to itself rebels, though none else near. 19 
Ophelia. I shall 20 the effect 21 of this good lesson 

keep, 
As watchman to my heart. But, good my 

brother, 



x body 



2 stain 
3 deceit 
Hefile 



5 of no worth 
e choose 
7 three sylla- 
bles 



8 pronounced 
as if written 
he's th' head 



^public opin- 
ion 



10 believing 
u listen to 

12 unbridled 



l3 most heedful 



u worm that 
preys upon 
blossoms 

u buds 

^unfolded 

v blights 

n (the) best 

19 (be) near 

20 will 

21 th' effect 



* Is able to carry his words into effect. 

t "Do not advance as far as your affection would lead you" (Johnson). 



90 



HAMLET 



Do not, as some ungracious 1 pastors do, 
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, 
Whilst, like a puffed 2 and reckless libertine, 
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, 50 
And recks 3 not his own rede.* 

Laertes. O, fear me 5 not. 

I stay too long : — but here my father comes. 

Enter Polonius. 

A double blessing is a double grace; 
Occasion 6 smiles upon a second leave. 
Polonius. Yet 7 here, Laertes! Aboard, 
aboard, for shame! 
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, 
And you are stay'd for. There, — my blessing 
with you ! [Laying his hand on Laertes' head. 
And these few precepts in thy memory 
Look thou character. 8 Give thy thoughts no 

tongue, 
Nor any unproportion'd 3 thought his 10 act. 60 

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 11 
The friends thou hast, and* their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ; 
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Be- 
ware 
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in, 
Bear't, that the opposed 12 may beware of thee. 
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: 
Take each man's censure, 13 but reserve thy judg- 
ment. 
Costly 1 * thy habit as thy purse can buy, 70 

But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy: 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man; 
And they in France, of the best rank and station, 
Are most select and generous, chief 15 in that. 
Neither a borrower, nor a lender be ; 



[Act I 



graceless 

2 puffed up, self- 
confident 

follows 
Counsel 
& for me 
(dative) 



Opportunity 
'still 



8 write 

^unsuitable 
10 its 
n comnwn 



12 tW opposed, 
opponent 

13 opinion 
u as costly 



^particularly 



* Tried after having adopted them. 



Scene III] 



HAMLET 



91 



For loan oft loses both itself and friend; 
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 1 
This above all, — to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 80 

Farewell: my blessing season 2 this in thee! 
Laertes. Most humbly do I take my leave, 

my lord. 
Polonius. The time invites 3 you; go, your 

servants tend. 4 ' 
Laertes. Farewell, Ophelia; and remember 
well 
What I have said to you. 

Ophelia. 'Tis in my memory lock'd, 

And you yourself shall keep the key of it. 
Laertes. Farewell. [Exit Laertes. 

Polonius. What is't, Ophelia, he hath said 

to you? 
Ophelia. So please you, something touching 

the Lord Hamlet. 
Polonius. Marry, well bethought : 5 90 

'Tis told me, he hath very oft of late 6 
Given private time to you; and you yourself 
Have of your audience been most free and 

bounteous: 
If it be so— as so 'tis put 1 on me, 
And that in way 8 of caution — I must tell you, 
You do not understand yourself so clearly, 
As it behoves 9 my daughter, and your honour. 
What is between you? give me up the truth. 
Ophelia. He hath, my lord, of late made 
many tenders 10 
Of his affection to me. 100 

Polonius. Affection! pooh! you speak like a 
green 11 girl. 
Unsifted 12 in such perilous circumstance. 
Do you believe his tenders, 13 as you call them? 
Ophelia. I do not know, my lord, what I 
should think. 



'■economy 



2 ripen 



3 summons 
^attend 



Hhought of 
Recently 



''forced 
8 (the) way 



9 befit& 



10 offers 



^inexperienced 

12 untried 

13 offers 



92 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Polonius. Marry, I'll teach you: think your- 
self a baby; 
That you have ta'en these tenders 1 for true pay, 
Which are not sterling. 2 Tender 3 yourself more 

dearly; 
Or, — not to crack the wind of the poor phrase, 
Running it thus, — you'll tender* me a fool. 

Ophelia. My lord, he hath importuned me 
with love, 110 

In honourable fashion. 5 

Polonius. Ay, fashion 6 you may call it; go 
to, go to. 

Ophelia. And hath given countenance to his 
speech, my lord, 
With almost all the holy vows of heaven. 

Polonius. Ay, springes 1 to catch woodcocks. 
I do know, 
When the blood burns, how prodigal 3 the soul 
Lends the tongue vows : *these blazes, daughter, » 
Giving more light than heat, — extinct in both, 
Even in 10 their promise, as it is a-making, — 
You must not take for fire. ll From this time 120 
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence; 
Set your entreatments 12 at a higher rate 
Than a command to parley. For 13 Lord Hamlet, 
Believe so much in him, that he is young; 
And with a larger tether 1 * may he walk 
Than may be given you. In few, 15 Ophelia, 
Do not believe his vows ; for they are brokers, 16 — 
Not of that dye 17 which their investments 13 show, 
But mere implorators 19 of unholy suits, 
Breathing 20 like sanctified and pious bonds, 130 

The better to beguile. This is for 21 all, — 
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth, 
Have you so slander any moment 22 leisure, 
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet. 
Look to't, I charge 23 you: come your ways. 

Ophelia. I shall obey, my lord. [Exeunt. 



x offers 
2 true gold 
s value 



Exhibit 



^passing fancy 



7 nets, gins 

Havishly 
9 daugh-e-ter, 
trisyllable 

10 at the moment 
"dissyllable 

12 favors 
13 as for 

u more liberty 
15 in short 
u go-betweens 
11 appearance 
13 dress 
19 solicitors 
^whispering 
21 (once) for 

22 moment's 
23 command 



*These blazes (fires of passion) are like flashes, giving more light than 
heat, and which go out even while the promise is being made. 



Scene IV] HAMLET 


93 


Scene IV. — The Platform. 




Enter Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus. 




Hamlet. The air bites shrewdly; 1 it is very 


keenly 


cold. 




Horatio. It is a nipping and an eager 2 air. 


2 sharp 


Hamlet. What hour 3 now? 


3 dissy liable 


Horatio. I think it lacks of twelve. 




Marcellus. No, it is struck. 




Horatio. Indeed? I heard it not: it then 




draws near the season 




Wherein the spirit held his wont 4 to walk. 


Custom 


[A flourish of trumpets, and ordnance 




shot off, within. 




What does this mean, my lord? 




Hamlet. The king doth wake 5 to-night, and 


b feast late 


takes his rouse, 6 


6 bumper 


Keeps wassail, 7 and the swaggering wp-spring 


''revelry 


reels; 3 


8 dance staggers 


And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish 9 down, 10 


9 Rhine wine 


The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 




The triumph of his pledge. 




Horatio. Is it a custom? 




Hamlet. Ay, marry, is't: 




But to my mind, — though I am native here 




And to the manner born, — it is a custom 




More honour'd in the breach than the observance. 




*This heavy-headed revel, east and west, 




Makes us traduced 10 and tax'd 11 of other nations: 


^disgraced 


They clepe 12 us drunkards, and with swinish 


n censured 
12 call 


phrase 


13 defile 


Soil 13 our addition; 14 and, indeed, it takes 20 


u title 



*These drinking habits of ours cause other nations to overlook our good 
qualities and to regard us as drunkards. So with individuals : some particular 
trait (vicious mole) — either inherited at birth and therefore no fault of the 
man, developing (o'ergrowth) some disposition that proves too strong for him, 
or brought about by some bad habit that outweighs (o'erleavens) his pleasant 
manners — no matter if inherited (nature's livery) or an acquired habit (fortune's 
star) — is enough to cause most people to judge the man (general censure) by 
this particular defect, and to overlook his other qualities (their virtues else), 
though they be many (infinite) and full of goodness (pure as grace). 



94 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



From our achievements, though perform'd at 

height, 1 
The pith and marrow of our attribute. 
So, oft it chances in particular men, 
That, for some vicious mole of nature 2 in them, 
As, in their birth (wherein they are not guilty, 
Since nature cannot choose his 3 origin), 
By the o'ergrowth of some complexion, 
Oft breaking down the pales* and forts of reason; 
Or by some habit, that too much o'er-leavens 6 
The form of plausive 6 manners; — that these 

men, — 
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, 
Being nature's livery, or fortune's star, — 
Their virtues else (be they as pure as grace, 
As infinite as man may undergo, 7 ) 
Shall* in the general censure take corruption 
From that particular fault: the dram of base 9 
Doth all the noble substance often dout 10 
To his 11 own scandal. 

Enter Ghost. 

Horatio. Look, my lord, it comes! 

Hamlet. Angels and ministers of grace, 
defend us! 
Be thou a spirit of health, or goblin damn'd, 
Bring with thee airs from heaven, or blasts from 

hell, 
Be thy intents wicked, or charitable, 
Thou com'st in such a questionable 12 shape, 
That I will speak to thee: I'll call thee Hamlet, 
King, Father, Royal Dane: O, answer me! 
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell 
Why thy canonized bones, hearsed 13 in death, 
Have burst their cerements ; 14 why the sepulchre, 
Wherein we saw thee quietly inurn , d, lb _ 
Hath oped 16 his ponderous and marble jaws, 
To cast thee up again! What may this mean, 
That thou, dead corse, again, in complete steel, 
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, 



30 



40 



50 



l at best 



2 a mark on the 
body 

Hts 

defences 
^affects too 
strongly 
pleasing 



''accumulate 

e will 

^portion of evil 
10 do out, 

destroy 
"its 



12 inviting ques- 
tion 



13 entombed 
u wrapping for 

the dead 
^interred 
^opened 



Scene IV] 



HAMLET 



95 



Making night hideous; and we 1 fools of nature, 
So horridly to shake our disposition, 2 
With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls? 
Say, why is this? wherefore? what should we do? 
[The Ghost beckons Hamlet. 

Horatio. It beckons you to go away with it, 
As if it some impartmenP did desire 
To you alone. 

Marcellus. Look, with what courteous action 
It waves* you to a more removed 5 ground: 
But do not go with it. 



Horatio. 
Hamlet. 

it. 
Horatio. 
Hamlet. 



No, by no means, 
It will not speak ; then I will follow 



Do not, my lord. 

Why, what should be the fear? 
I do not set my life at a pin's fee; 
And, for my soul, what can it do to that, 
Being a thing immortal as itself? 
It waves me forth again: — I'll follow it. 

Horatio. What if it tempt you toward the 
flood, my lord, 
Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff 
That beetles o'er 6 his base into the sea, 
And there assume some other horrible form, 
Which might deprive 7 your sovereignty of 

reason, 
And draw you into madness? think of it: 
The very place puts toys 8 of desperation, 
Without more motive, into every brain 
That looks so many fathoms to the sea, 
And hears it roar beneath. 

Hamlet. It waves me still. — Go on; I'll fol- 
low thee.. 

Marcellus. You shall not go, my lord. 

Hamlet. Hold off your hands. 

Horatio. Be ruled; you shall not go. 

Hamlet. My fate cries out, 

And makes each petty artery in this body 



60 



1 us 
2 nature 



'communica- 
tion 



Reckons 
^remote 



70 



80 



*juts or hangs 
over 

7 take away 



Hdle fancies 



96 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve. 1 

[Ghost beckons. 
Still am I call'd: — unhand me, gentlemen; — 

[Breaking from them. 
By heaven, I'll make a ghost of him that lets 2 

me: — 
I say, away! — Go on; I'll follow thee. 

[Exeunt Ghost and Hamlet. 
Horatio. He waxes 3 desperate with imagina- 
tion. 
Marcellus. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to 

obey him. 
Horatio. Have after. 4 — To what issue will 90 

this come? 
Marcellus. Something is rotten in the state of 

Denmark. 
Horatio. Heaven will direct it. 6 
Marcellus. Nay, let's follow him. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene V. — A more remote Part of the Platform. 
Re-enter Ghost and Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Whither wilt thou lead me? speak; 
I'll go no further. 

Ghost. Mark me. 

Hamlet. I will. 

Ghost. My hour is almost come, 

When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames 
Must render* up myself. 

Hamlet. Alas, poor ghost! 

Ghost. Pity me not; but lend thy serious 
hearing 
To what I shall unfold. 

Hamlet. Speak; I am bound to hear. 

Ghost. So art thou to revenge, when thou 
shalt hear. 

Hamlet. What? 

Ghost. I am thy father's spirit, 
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night, 10 



^muscle 



2 hinders 



3 grows 



follow 



Hhe issue 



^deliver 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



And, for 1 the day, confined to fast in fires, 
Till the foul crimes, done in my days of nature, 2 
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am 

forbid 3 
To tell* the secrets of my prison-house, 
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word 
Would harrow up thy soul; freeze thy young 

blood; 
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their 

spheres; 
Thy knotted and combined locks to part, 
And each particular hair to stand on end, 
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine; 20 

But this eternal blazon 5 must not be 
To ears of flesh and blood. — List, 6 list, list! 
If thou didst ever thy dear father love — 
Hamlet. O God! 
Ghost. Revenge his foul and most unnatural 

murder. 
Hamlet. Murder! 

Ghost. Murder most foul, as in the best 7 it is; 
But this most foul, strange, and unnatural. 
Hamlet. Haste me to know 't, 8 that I, with 
wings as swift 
As meditation, or the thoughts of love, 30 

May sweep to my revenge. 

Ghost. I find thee apt; 3 

And duller shouldst 10 thou be than the fat weed 
That rots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, 11 
Wouldst thou not stir in this. Now, Hamlet, 

hear: 
'Tis given out that, sleeping in mine orchard, 
A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Den- 
mark 
Is by a forged process 12 of my death 
Rankly 13 abused: but know, thou noble youth, 
The serpent that did sting thy father's life 
Now wears his crown. 40 



Huring 
Hife 

^forbidden 
declare 



^revelation of 

eternity 
Histen 



1 at best 

Hell me quickly 



heady 
10 wouldst 
n bank 



^account 
13 grossly 



98 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Hamlet. O my prophetic soul ! my uncle ! 

Ghost. But, soft! 1 methinks I scent the morn- 
ing air; 
Brief let me be. — Sleeping within mine orchard, 
My custom always in the afternoon, 
Upon my secure 2 hour thy uncle stole, 
With juice of cursed hebenon 3 in a vial, 
And in the porches* of mine ears did pour 
The leperous distilment 5 ; whose effect 
Holds such an enmity with blood* of man, 
That, swift as quicksilver, it courses 7 through 50 
The natural gates and alleys 8 of the body; 
And, with a sudden vigour, 9 it doth posset 19 
And curd, like eager 11 droppings into milk, 
The thin and wholesome blood: so did it mine; 
And a most instant 12 tetter 13 bark'd about, 1 * 
Most lazar 15 -like, with vile and loathsome crust, 
All my smooth body. 

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand, 
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once despatch' d: 1 * 
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, 60 

UnhouseVd, 17 disappointed, 18 unaneled; 10 
No reckoning made, but sent to my account 
With all my imperfections on my head: 
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible! 
If thou hast nature 20 in thee, bear it not; 
But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act, 
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive 
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven, 21 
And to those thorns 22 that in her bosom lodge, 
To prod and sting her. Fare thee well at once! 70 
The glow-worm shows the matin 23 to be near, 
And 'gins 2 * to pale 25 his uneffectual 26 fire : 
Adieu, adieu! Hamlet, remember me. [Exit. 
Hamlet. O all you host of heaven! O earth! 
What else? 
And shall I couple hell?— 0, fie!— Hold, hold, 

my heart; 
And you, my sinews, grow not instant 27 old, 
But bear me stiffly up. — Remember thee? — 



^■hush 



'unsuspicious 
3 henbane 
^entrances 
^distillation 
9 (the) blood 
7 rushes 
^passages 
s rapid action 

10 curdle 

11 sour 

12 instantaneous 

13 scab 

u covered 

13 leper 

^deprived 

"without 

sacrament 
18 unprepared 
19 without 

extreme 

unction 
20 natural 

affection 

21 i.e. punish- 
ment of 

22 stings of con- 
science 

23 the morning 

2i begins 

2b make pale 

^ineffectual 



27 instantly 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



99 



Ay, thou poor ghost, while memory holds a seat 
In this distracted globe. 1 Remember thee! 
Yea, from the table 2 of my memory 
I'll wipe away all trivial fond 5 records, 
All saws* of books, all forms, all pressures 5 past, 
That youth and observation copied there; 
And thy commandment all alone shall live 
Within the book and volume of my brain, 
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven! 
O most pernicious woman! 

villain, villain, smiling, damned villain! 
My tables, 5 — meet it is I set it down, 
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain; 90 
At least I'm sure it may be so in Denmark: 

[Writing. 
So, uncle, there you are? Now to my word; 8 
It is, "Adieu, adieu! remember me:" 

1 have sworn 't. 

Horatio. [Within.] My lord! my lord! 
Marcellus. [Within.] Lord Hamlet! 
Horatio. [Within.] Heaven secure 9 him ! 

Marcellus. [Within.] So be it! 
Horatio. [Within.] Hillo, ho, ho, my lord! 
Hamlet. Hillo, ho, ho, boy! come, bird, come. 

Enter Horatio and Marcellus. 

Marcellus. How is 't, my noble lord? 
Horatio. What news, my lord? 

Hamlet. O, wonderful! 
Horatio. Good my lord, tell it. 
Hamlet. No; You'll reveal it. 100 

Horatio. Not I, my lord, by heaven! 
Marcellus. Nor I, my lord! 

Hamlet. How say you, then; would heart of 
man once think it? — 
But you'll be secret? 

Horatio. \ A , , , , 

Marcellus. J Ay, by heaven, my lord. 



%ead 

Hdblet. 

3 foolish 

4 sayings 

Hmpressions 



Hablets 



7 i.e. set down 
^watchword 



^-protect 



100 



HAMLET 



[Act I 



Hamlet. There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all 
Denmark 
But he's an arrant 1 knave. 

Horatio. There needs no ghost, my lord, 
come 2 from the grave 
To tell us this. 

Hamlet. Why, right; you are i' the right; 

And so, without more circumstance 3 at all, 
I hold it fit that we shake hands and part: 110 

You, as your business and desire shall point you; 
For every man hath business and desire, 
Such as it is: — and, for mine own poor part, 
Look you, I'll go pray. 
Horatio. These are but wild and whirling* 

words, my lord. 
Hamlet. I'm sorry they offend you, heartily; 
Yes, faith, heartily. 

Horatio. There's no offence, my lord. 

Hamlet. Yes, by Saint Patrick, but there is, 
Horatio, 
And much offence too. Touching this vision 

here 
It is an honest ghost, that let me tell you: 120 

For 6 your desire to know what is between us, 
O'ermaster 6 't as you may. And now, good 

friends, 
As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers, 7 
Give 3 me one poor request. 

Horatio. What is't, my lord? we will. 
Hamlet. Never make known what you have 

seen to-night. 
Horatio \ M lord we win not< 

Marcellus. J J 

Hamlet. Nay, but swear 't. 

Horatio. In faith, 

My lord, not I. 
Marcellus. Nor I, my lord, in faith. 
Hamlet. Upon my sword. 9 
Marcellus. We have sworn, my lord already. 
Hamlet. Indeed, upon my sword, indeed. 



Absolute, 
thorough 

2 (to) come 



2 'circumlocution 



4 excited 



B os for 
6 get over it 

trisyllable 
s grant 



9 i.e. this cross 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



101 



Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 
Hamlet. Ah, ha, boy! say'st thou so? art 
thou there, truepenny? 1 — 
Come on — you hear this fellow in the cellarage, 2 — 
Consent to swear. 

Horatio. Propose the oath, my lord. 

Hamlet. Never to speak of this that you have 
seen, 
Swear by my sword. 

Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 
Hamlet. Hie et ubiquef 3 then we'll shif$ our 
ground. — • 
Come hither, gentlemen, 
And lay your hands again upon my sword: 
Never to speak of this that you have heard, 
Swear by my sword. 
Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 
Hamlet. Well said, old mole! canst work 4 ' i' 
the earth so fast? 
A worthy pioner 5 — Once more remove, good 
friends. 
Horatio. O day and night, but this is won- 
drous 6 strange ! 
Hamlet. And therefore as a stranger give it 
welcome. 
There are more things in heaven and earth, 

Horatio, 
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy. 
But come ; — 

Here, as before, never, so help you mercy, 
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, 
As I, perchance, hereafter shall think meet 
To put 7 an antic 8 disposition on, — ■ ^ 
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall, 
With arms encumbered 9 thus, or this head-shake, 
Or by pronouncing of some doubtful phrase, 
As, "Well, well, we know;" — or, "We could, an 

if 10 w<e would;" 
Or, "If we list 11 to speak;" — or, "There be, an if 
they might;" 



140 



150 



honest fellow 
Underground 



3 here and 
everywhere 



burrow 



6 wondrously 



8 strange 
folded 



10 and if 
^should please 



102 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Or such ambiguous giving out, 1 to note 
That you know aught of me: — this not to do, 
So grace and mercy at your most 2 need help you, 
Swear. 
Ghost. [Beneath.] Swear. 
Hamlet. Eest, rest, perturbed spirit! [They 
. *swear.] So, gentlemen. 
x$rah all my love I do commend me to you; 
,°And what so poor a man as Hamlet is 
^ May do, to eXpressTiisTove and friending 3 to 
you, 
God willing, shall not lack. 4 Let us go in 

together ; 
And still your fingers on your lips, I pray. 
The time is out of joint: 5 — O cursed spite^ 
/That ever I was born to set it right \gnr 
Nay, come, let's go together. 0^ [Exeunt. 

ACT II. 

Scene I. — A Room in Polonius' House 

Enter Polonius and Reynaldo. 

Polonius. Give him this money and these 

notes, Reynaldo. 
Reynaldo. I will, my lord. 
Polonius. You shall 5 do marvellous 7 wisely, 
good Reynaldo, 
Before you visit him, to make inquiry 
Of his behaviour. 
Reynaldo. My lord, I did intend it. 
Polonius. Marry, s well said; very well said. 
Look you, sir, 
"Inquire me 9 first what Danskers 10 are in Paris; 
And how, and who, what means, and where they 
keep, 



160 



170 



^exclamation 
greatest 



friendliness 
%e lacking 



^utterly dis- 
ordered 



e will 
7 marvelously 



8 by Mary 



9 for me 
10 Danes 



* Get to know what Danes (Danskers) are in Paris, and how they live 
(how), with whom they associate (who), what their fortune is (what means), 
where they lodge (keep), what company they frequent (what Company), and 
at what cost (expense). 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



103 



What company, at what expense; and finding, 

By this encompassment 1 and drift of question, 2 10 

That they do know my son, *come you more 

nearer 
Than your particular demands 3 will touch it; 
Take you, 4 ' as 'twere, some distant knowledge 

of him; 
As thus, "I know his father, and his friends, 
And, in part, 5 him;" — do you mark this, Rey- 
naldo? 

Reynaldo. Ay, very well, my lord. 

Polonius. "And, in part, him; but," you 
may say, ' ' not well : 
But if 't be he I mean, he's very wild; 
Addicted 6 so and so;" — and there put on 7 him 
What forgeries you please ; marry , none so rank 3 20 
As may dishonour him; take heed of that; 
But, sir, such wanton, 9 wild, and usual slips 10 
As are companions noted and most known 
To youth and liberty. 

Reynaldo. As gaming, my lord. 

Polonius. Ay, or drinking, fencing, swear- 
ing, quarrelling, 
You may go so far. 

Reynaldo. My lord, that would dishonour 
him. 

Polonius. Faith, no; as you may season 11 it 
in the charge. 
But breathe 12 his faults so quaintly 13 
That they may seem the taints 1 * of liberty; 15 30 

The flash and outbreak of a fiery mind; 
A savageness in unreclaimed 16 blood, 
Of general assault. 

Reynaldo. But, my good lord, — 

Polonius. Wherefore should you do this? 

Reynaldo. Ay, 11 my lord, 

I would know that. 

Polonius. Marry, sir, here's my drift; 1 * 



1 circumvention 
Hndirect 
means 

Hired ques- 
tions 
Assume 

^slightly 



Hnclined to 
''attribute to 
8 gross 

^unrestrained 
^shortcomings 



n represent 

12 whisper 
13 ingeniously 
u blemishes 
u free dis- 
position 
16 untamed 



17 two syllables 

18 meaning 



* By this roundabout and indirect inquiry you will arrive much nearer 
to the truth than you possibly could by direct questions. 



104 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



And, I believe, it is a fetch of warrant: 
You laying these slight sullies 1 on my son, 
As 'twere a thing a little soil'd 2 V the working, 
Mark you, 

*Your party in converse, him 3 you would sound, 
Having ever seen in the ^renominate* crimes 
The youth you breathe of guilty, be assured, 
He closes 6 with you in this consequence; 6 
"Good sir," or so; or "friend," or "gentle- 
man" — 
According to the phrase or the addition 7 
Of man and country. 
Reynaldo. Very good, my lord. 

Polonius. And then, sir, does he this, — he 
does — what was I about to say? I was 
about to say something: — where did I 
leave?* 
Reynaldo. At "closes in the consequence," 
At "friend or so," and "gentleman." 
Polonius. At ' ' closes in the consequence," — 
ay, marry; 9 
He closes with you thus: — "I know the gentle- 
man; 
I saw him yesterday, or t'other day, 
Or then, or then, with such, or such; and, as 

you say, 
There was he gaming; there overtook in's rouse; 10 
There falling out at tennis;" or so forth. — 
See you now ; 

fYour bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth : 
J And thus do we of 11 wisdom and of reach, 12 
With windlasses, 13 and with assays of bias 1 * 
By indirections™ find directions out: 



40 



50 



60 



1 stains 
'defiled 

3 he whom 
Aforenamed 

^concludes 
B as follows 

Hitle 



Heave off 



9 by Mary 



10 overtaken in ■ 
his bumper, 
i.e. intoxi- 
cated 
n by means of 
Aforethought 
u roundabout 

ways 
u indirect 

attempts 
^indirect 
methods 



* And so if the person you are conversing with, he whom you would sound, 
has ever seen my son commit any of the aforesaid faults, he will be led on in 
natural sequence to end by saying, "Good sir," etc. 

f As a fish (carp) is taken by a bait, so these men, swallowing your insinu- 
ating talk (bait of falsehood) , will tell it to the world as if true. 

t We find the direct way to what we desire by means of wisdom and 
forethought, and by using roundabout methods and experiments such as we 
would employ to ascertain the effect of bias upon the course of a bowl. 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



105 



So, by my former lecture 1 and advice, 

Shall 2 you my son. You have me, 3 have you not? 

Reynaldo. My lord, I have. 

Polonius. God be wi u you; fare you well. 

Reynaldo. Good my lord! 

Polonius. Observe his inclination in yourself. 

Reynaldo. I shall, my lord. 

Polonius. And let him ply his music. 5 

Reynaldo. Well, my lord. 

Polonius. Farewell! [Exit Reynaldo. 

Enter Ophelia. 

How now, Ophelia! what's the matter? 70 

Ophelia. O, my lord, my lord, I have been so 
affrighted! 6 

Polonius. With what, i ' the name of God? 

Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my 
closet, 7 
Lord Hamlet, — with his doublet all unbraced; 8 
No hat upon his head; his stockings foul'd, 
Ungarter'd, and down-gyved 9 to his ancle; 
Pale as his shirt; his knees knocking each other; 
And with a look so piteous in purport, 10 
As if he had been loosed out of hell 
To 11 speak of horrors, — he comes before me. 80 

Polonius. Mad for thy love? 

Ophelia. My lord, I do not know; 

But, truly, I do fear it. 

Polonius. What said he? 

Ophelia. He took me by the wrist, and held 
me hard; 
Then goes he to the length of all his arm, 
And with his other hand thus o'er his brow, 
He falls to such perusal 12 of my face, 
As 13 he would draw it. Long stay'd he so; 
At last, — a little shaking of mine arm, 
And thrice his head thus waving up and down, — 
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound, 
As u it did seem to shatter all his bulk, 15 
And end his being: that done, he lets me go: 



Hnstructions 
2 i.e. find out 
3 tmderstand 

4 with 



6 give him free 
rein 



Herrified 

"'private room 
^unfastened 

^slipped down 

10 meaning 

n in order to ' 



12 careful exam- 
ination 
13 as if 



u that 
lb body 



106 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



And, with his head over his shoulder turn'd, 
He seem'd to nnd his way without his eyes; 
For out o' doors he went without their help, 
And, to the last, bended their light on me. 
Polonius. Come, go with me : I will go seek 

the king. 
This is the very ecstasy 1 of love; 
Whose violent property fordoes 2 itself, 
And leads the will to desperate undertakings, 100 
As oft as any passion under heaven 
That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. — 
What, have you given him any hard words 3 of 

late? 
Ophelia. No, my good lord; but, as you did 

command, 
I did repel* his letters, and denied 
His access to me. 

Polonius. That hath made him mad. 

I am sorry that with better heed and judgment 
I had not quoted 5 him : I f ear'd he did but trifle, 
And meant to wreck 6 * thee; but, beshrew my 

jealousy ! 7 
By heaven, it is as proper* to our age 110 

To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions, 
As it is common for the younger sort 9 
To lack discretion. Come, go we to the king: 
This must be known 10 ; which, being kept close, 

might move 
*More grief to hide, 11 than hate to utter 12 love. 
Come. [Exeunt. 



Scene II. — A Room in the Castle. 

Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, 
and Attendants. 
King. Welcome, dear Rosencrantz and 
Guildenstern! 



badness 
^destroys 



s harsh answers 



Hend back 



5 noted 
6 ruin 
''suspicion 
^natural 

9 kind 

10 revealed 

n by hiding 
n by disclosing 



* Hamlet's madness would cause more grief if concealed than the reve- 
lation of his affection for Ophelia would cause resentment (i. e., on the part 
of the king and queen). 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



107 



Moreover 1 that we much did long to see you, 
The need we have to use you did provoke 2 
Our hasty sending. 3 Something have you heard 
Of Hamlet's transformation; so I call it, 
Since nor* the exterior nor the inward man 
Resembles that it was. What it should be, 
More than his father's death, that thus hath put 

him 
So much from the understanding of himself, 
I cannot dream of: I entreat you both, 10 

That, being of so young days 5 brought up with 

him, 
And since so neighboured to his youth 5 and 

humour, 7 
That you vouchsafe your rest* here in our court 
Some little time: so by your companies 9 
To draw him on to pleasures, and to gather, 
So much as from occasion 10 you may glean, 
Whether aught, 11 to us unknown, afflicts him 

thus, 
That open'd, 12 lies within our remedy. 
Queen. Good gentlemen, he hath much 

talk'd of you; 
And, sure I am, two men there are not living 20 
To whom he more adheres. If it will please you 
To show us so much gentry 13 and good will 
As to expend 1 * your time with us a while, 
*For the supply and profit of our hope, 
Your visitation 15 shall receive such thanks 
As fits a king's remembrance. 16 

Rosencrantz. Both your majesties 

Might, by the sovereign power you have of 17 us, 
Put your dread pleasures more into command 
Than to entreaty. 

Guildenstern. But we both obey, 

And here give up ourselves, in the full bent, 1 * 30 

To lay our service freely at your feet, 
And be commanded. 



besides 

Hncite 

3 summons 

Neither 



5 from childhood 

6 near his age 
7 like him in 

disposition 
s promise to stay 
^companionship 

l0 circumstances 
n any thing 

12 when known 



13 courtesy 
u spend 

15 visit 
u token of 
gratitude 

v over 



18 inclinalion or 
intention 



* "As the means and for the furtherance of what we hope to accomplish, " 
{Hunter). 



108 



HAMLET 



[Act IT 



King . Thanks, Rosencrantz and gentle Guild- 

enstern. 
Queen. Thanks, Guildenstern and gentle 
Rosencrantz : 
And I beseech you instantly to visit 
My too much changed son; go, some of you, 
And bring 1 these gentlemen where Hamlet is. 
Guildenstern. Heavens make our presence, 
and our practices, 
Pleasant and helpful to him! 
Queen. Ay, amen! 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, 
and some Attendants. 

Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. The ambassadors from Norway, 
my good lord, 
Are joyfully return'd. 

King. Thou still 2 hast been the father of 

good news. 
Polonius. Have I, my lord? Assure you, my 
good liege, 3 
I hold my duty, as I hold my soul, 
Both to my God, and to my gracious king: 
And I do think (or else this brain of mine 
Hunts not the trail of policy so sure* 
As it hath used to do) that I have found 
The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy. 
'King. O, speak of that; that do I long to 

hear. 
Polonius. Give first admittance to the am- 
bassadors; 
My news shall be the fruit 5 to that great feast. 
King. Thyself do grace to them, and bring 
them in. 

[Exit Polonius. 

He tells me, my dear Gertrude, he hath found 
The head and source of all your son's distemper. 6 



40 



50 



Conduct 



2 ever, con- 
stantly 



Hiege lord 



i surely 



^dessert 



Hll-health 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



109 



Queen. I doubt, 1 it is no other but the main, 2 
His father's death, and our o'erhasty marriage. 
King. Well, we shall sift him. 

Re-enter Polonixjs, with Voltimand and Cornelius. 

Welcome, my good friends! 
Say, Voltimand, what from our brother Nor- 
way? 3 
Voltimand. Most fair return of greetings, 
and desires: 60 

Upon our first,* he sent out* to suppress 
His nephew's levies, which to him appear'd 
To be a preparation 'gainst the Polack;* 
But, better look'd into, he truly found 
It was against your highness : whereat grieved, — 
That so his sickness, age, and impotence, 
Was falsely borne in hand, 7 — sends out arrests 5 
On Fortinbras; which he, in brief, 9 obeys; 
Receives rebuke from Norway; 10 and, in fine, 
Makes vow before his uncle, never more 70 

To give the assay of arms 11 against your majesty. 
Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, 
Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee; 12 
And his commission 13 to employ those soldiers, 
So levied as before, against the Polack: u 
With an entreaty, herein further shown, 

[Giving a paper. 
That it might please you to give quiet pass 15 
Through your dominions for this enterprise, 
On such regards of safety and allowance 
As therein are set down. 

King. It likes 16 us well; 80 

And, at our more considered time, 11 we'll read, 
Answer, and think upon this business. 
Meantime, we thank you for your well-took 

labour: 
Go to your rest; at night we'll feast together: 
Most welcome home. 

[Exeunt Voltimand and Cornelius. 



1 suspect 

Hhe main cause 



3 king of 



*at once 
Hssued orders 

*Pole 



''deluded 
3 (he) sends out 
orders to stop 
Hn short 
10 king of 
11 make trial of 
battle 

12 reward 

13 authority 

u Pole 



^pleases 

11 greater leisure 



110 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Polonius. This business is well ended. 

My liege, 1 and madam, to expostulate 2 
What majesty should 3 be, what duty is, 
Why day is day, night night, and time is time, 
Were nothing but to waste night, day, and time. 
Therefore, since brevity is the souh of wit, 6 90 

And tediousness the limbs and outward flour- 
ishes, 
I will be brief :— your noble son is mad: 
Mad call I it; for, to define true madness, 
What is't but to be nothing else but mad? 
But let that go. s 

Queen. *More matter, with less art. 7 

Polonius. Madam, I swear I use no art at all. 
That he is mad, 'tis true: 'tis true 'tis pity, 
And pity 'tis 'tis true: a foolish figure; 
But farewell it, for I will use no art. 
Mad let us grant him, then: and now remains, 8 100 
That we find out the cause of this effect, — 
Or rather say, the cause of this defect, 
For this effect defective 9 comes by cause; 
Thus it remains, and the remainder thus. 
Perpend. 10 

I have a daughter — have while she is mine — 
Who, in her duty and obedience, mark, 
Hath given me this: 11 now, gather 12 and surmise. 
[Reads.] "To the celestial, and my soul's idol, 
the most beautified 13 Ophelia," — 110 

That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; "beautified" 
is a vile phrase : but you shall hear. Thus : 
[Reads.] ' ' In her excellent white bosom, these," 
etc. — 

Queen. Came this from Hamlet to her? 

Polonius. Good madam, stay awhile; I will 
be faithful. 
[Reads.] "Doubt thou the stars are fire; 

Doubt that the sun doth move; 



Hiege lord 
2 enlarge upon 
3 ought to 



i essence 
6 wisdom 



*pass 
^artificial talk 



3 {it) remains 

9 really a defect 
10 consider 



n i.e. letter 
12 come around 

me 
13 endowed with 

beauty 



* Give some more definite information; do not exhibit such ingenuity in 
explanation (i. e., come to the point). 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



111 



Doubt 1 truth to be a liar; 

But never doubt I love. 

1 ' dear Ophelia, I am ill 2 at these numbers; 3 120 

I have not art to reckon* my groans: but that I 

love thee best, O most best, 5 believe it. Adieu. 

' ' Thine evermore, most dear lady, 

Whilst this machine 6 is 7 to him, 

Hamlet." 
This in obedience hath my daughter shown me : 
And more above, 8 hath his solicitings, 
As they fell out by 9 time, by means and place, 
All given to mine ear. 

King. But how hath she 

Received his love? 
Polonius. What do you think of me? 130 

King. As of a man faithful and honourable. 
Polonius. I would fain 10 prove so. But what 
might you think, 
When I had seen this hot love on the wing, 
(As I perceived it, I must tell you that, 
Before my daughter told me), what might you, 
Or my dear majesty, your queen here, think, 
If I had play'd the desk, or table-book; 
Or given my heart a winking, 11 mute and dumb; 
Or look'd upon 12 this love with idle sight; 13 — 
What might you think? No, I went round 1 * to 

work, 140 

And my young mistress thus I did bespeak: 15 
' ' Lord Hamlet is a prince, out of thy sphere, 16 
This must not be : " and then I precepts 17 gave 

her 
That she should lock herself from his resort , 1S 
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens. 
Which done, she took the fruits 19 of my advice; 
And he, repulsed, — a short tale to make — 
Fell into a sadness; then into a fast; 
Thence to a watch; 20 thence into a weakness; 
Thence to a lightness; 21 and by this declension 150 



1 suspect 

2 unskilled 
Hhis verse-mak- 
ing 
dumber 
6 double sup. 
6 body 
7 belongs 

Hn addition 

9 with 



"gladly 



n winked at 

12 encouraged 

l3 foolish 
approval 

Straightfor- 
wardly 

15 address 

16 position 

17 instructions 

18 company 
19 consequences 



20 wakefulness 
21 mental de- 
rangement 



112 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Into the madness wherein now he raves, 
And all we 1 mourn for. 

King. Do you think 'tis this? 

Queen. It may be, very likely. 

Polonius. Hath there been such a time — I'd 
fain 2 know that — ■ 
That I have positively said, "Tis so," 
When it proved otherwise? 

King. Not that I know. 

Polonius. Take this 3 from this,* if this be 
otherwise : [Pointing to his head and shoulder. 
If circumstances lead me, I will find 
Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed 
Within the centre. 5 

King. How may we try it further? 160 

Polonius. You know, sometimes he walks for 
hours together 
Here in the lobby. 

Queen. So he does, indeed. 

Polonius. At such a time I'll loose 6 my 
daughter to him: 
Be you and I behind an arras 7 then; 
Mark the encounter;* if he love her not, 
And be not from his reason fall'n thereon, 
Let me be no assistant for a state, 9 
But keep a farm and carters. 10 

King. We will try it. 



Enter Hamlet, reading. 

Queen. But look, where sadly the poor wretch 
comes reading. 

Polonius. Away, I do beseech you, both away : 
I'll board 11 him presently; 12 — 0, give me leave. 13 — ■ 
[Exeunt King, Queen, and Attendants. 
How does my good Lord Hamlet? 

Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy. 

Polonius. Do you know me, my lord? 

Hamlet. Excellent 1 * well; you are a fish- 
monger. 

Polonius. Not I, my lord. 



170 



1 (which) we all 



2 gladly 



3 my head 
l my shoulder 



6 i.e of the earth 



^permit him 
to see her 

''tapestry 
8 watch their 
meeting 

^statesman 
l0 be a farmer 



n accost 
immediately 
13 I beg pardon 
(addressed to 
Hamlet) 

u excellently 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



113 



Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a 
man. 

Polonius. Honest, my lord! 

Hamlet. Ay, sir; to be honest, as this world 180 
goes is to be one man picked out of ten thousand. 
Polonius. That's very true, my lord. 

Hamlet. *For if the sun breed maggots in a 
dead dog, being a god kissing carrion, 1 — Have 
you a daughter? 

Polonius. I have, my lord. 

Hamlet. fLet her not walk i' the sun: con- 
ception 2 is a blessing; but not as your daughter 
may conceive: 3 — friend, look to't. 

Polonius. How say you by* that? — [Aside.] 190 
Still 5 harping on my daughter: — yet he knew me 
not at first; he said I was a fishmonger : he is far 
gone, far gone: 5 and truly in my youth I suffered 
much extremity for love; very near this. I'll 
speak to him again. — What do you read, my 
lord? 

Hamlet. Words, words, words. 

Polonius. What is the matter, my lord? 

Hamlet. Between who? 7 

Polonius. I mean, the matter 8 that you read, 
my lord. 200 

Hamlet. Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue 
says here, that old men have grey beards; that 
their faces are wrinkled; their eyes purging 9 
thick amber and plum-tree gum; and that they 
have a plentiful lack of wit, together with most 
weak hams: 10 all which, sir, though I most power- 
fully and potently believe, yet I hold it not hon- 
esty 11 to have it thus set down; for yourself, sir, 
should 12 be old as I am, if, like a crab, you could 
go backward. 210 



Head flesh 



Understanding 
Understand 
4 with reference 

to 
5 ever 

6 i.e. in love 



7 whom 
^subject matter 



9 expelling 



Hegs 

n right 
12 would 



*If the sun, though he is a god, by his heat and light breeds maggots in .a 
dead dog which is dead flesh, so no influence, however good, can do otherwise 
than bring out the vileness of man who is so corrupt a creature. 

t Do not allow her free liberty: understanding is a blessing, but if you 
allow your daughter to be free from restraints she may understand what you 
would not approve of. 



114 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Polonius. [Aside.] Though this be madness, 
yet there is method in 't. — Will you walk out of 
the air, my lord? 

Hamlet. Into my grave. 

Polonius. Indeed, that is out o' the air. — 
[Aside.] How pregnant 1 sometimes his replies are ! 
a happiness 2 that often madness hits on, which 
reason and sanity could not so prosperously be 
delivered of. I will leave him, and suddenly con- 
trive the means of meeting between him and my 220 
daughter. — My honourable lord, I will most 
humbly take my leave of you. 

Hamlet. You cannot, sir, take from me any 
thing that I will more willingly part withal; 3 
except my life, except my life, except my life. 

Polonius. Fare you well, my lord. [Going. 

Hamlet. These tedious old fools! 

Enter Rosenceantz and Guildensteen. 

Polonius. You go to seek the Lord Hamlet; 
there he is. 

Rosencrantz. [To Polonius.] God save you, 230 
sir ! [Exit Polonius. 

Guildenstern. Mine honoured lord! 

Rosencrantz. My most dear lord! 

Hamlet. My excellent good friends! How 
dost thou, Guildenstern? Ah, Rosencrantz! 
Good lads, how do ye both? 

Rosencrantz. As the indifferent 4 children of 
the earth. 

Guildenstern. Happy in that we are not over- 
happy; 
On Fortune's cap we are not the very button.* 

Hamlet. Nor the soles of her shoe? 240 

Rosencrantz. Neither, my lord. 

Hamlet. What's the news? 

Rosencrantz. None, my lord, but that the 
world's grown honest. 

Hamlet. Then is doomsday 6 near: but your 
news is not true. Let me question more in par- 
ticular: 1 what have you, my good friends, de- 



Ho the point 
2 good fortune 



3 with 



Ordinary 



Hop or tuft 



judgment day 
7 particularly 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



115 



served at the hands of Fortune, that she sends 
you to prison hither? 

Guildenstern. Prison, my lord! 250 

Hamlet. Denmark's a prison. 

Rosencrantz. Then is the world one. 

Hamlet. A goodly 1 one; in which there are 
many confines, 2 wards, and dungeons, Denmark 
being one o' the worst. 

Rosencrantz. We think not so, my lord. 

Hamlet. Why, then, 'tis none to you; for 
there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking 
makes it so : to me it is a prison. 

Rosencrantz. Why, then, your ambition 260 
makes it one ; 'tis too narrow for your mind. 

Hamlet. O God ! I could be bounded in a nut- 
shell, and count myself a king of infinite space, 
were it not that I have bad dreams. 

Guildenstern. Which dreams, indeed, are am- 
bition; for the very substance of the ambitious 
is merely the shadow of a dream. 

Hamlet. A dream itself is but a shadow. 

Rosencrantz. Truly, and I hold ambition of 
so airy and light a quality, that it is but a shad- 270 
ow's shadow. 

Hamlet. *Then are our beggars bodies, and 
our monarchs and outstretched 3 heroes the beg- 
gars' shadows. Shall we to 4 the court? for, by 
my fay, 5 1 cannot reason. 6 

Rosencrantz. \ w m -± , 

Guildenstern. j We 11 wad upon' you. 

Hamlet. No such matter: I will not sort 3 you 
with the rest of my servants; for, to speak to 
you like an honest man, I am most dreadfully 
attended. 9 But, in the beaten way of friendship, 280 
what make you at 10 Elsinore? 

Rosencrantz. To visit you, my lord; no other 
occasion. 11 



x fine, spacious 
^places of con- 
finement 



^ambitious 

4 (go) to 

*faith 

*argue with you 

''attend 

B class 



9 i.e. by sad 
thoughts 
10 brings you to 



n business 



* If ambition is a shadow, then beggars (men without ambition) are the 
only real bodies, whilst monarchs and heroes (ambitious men) are only shadows. 



116 



HAMLET 



[ACT II 



Hamlet. Beggar that I am, I am even poor in 
thanks; but I thank you: and sure, dear friends, 
my thanks are too dear, a 1 halfpenny. Were 
you not sent for? Is it your own inclining? 2 Is 
it a free visitation? 3 Come, deal justly with me : 
come, come; nay, speak. 

Guildenstern. What should we say, my lord? 290 

Hamlet. Why any thing, — but to the pur- 
pose.* You were sent for; and there is a kind of 
confession in your looks, which your modesties 
have not craft enough to colour: 5 I know the 
good king and queen have sent for you. 

Rosencrantz. To what end, 6 my lord? 

Hamlet. That you must teach me. But let 
me conjure you, by the rights of our fellowship, 
by the consonancy of our youth, 1 by the obligation 
of our ever preserved love, and by what more 300 
dear a better proposer 8 could charge you withal, 
be even 9 and direct 10 with me, whether you were 
sent for, or no. 

Rosencrantz. [Aside to Guildenstern.] What 
say you? 

Hamlet. [Aside.] Nay, then, I have an eye 
of 11 you. — If you love me, hold not off. 

Guildenstern. My lord, we were sent for. 

Hamlet. I will tell you why; so shall my 
anticipation prevent 12 your discovery 13 and your 310 
secrecy to the king and queen moult no feather. 1 * 
I have of late (but wherefore I know not) lost all 
my mirth, forgone 15 all custom of exercises; and, 
indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, 
that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me 
a sterile 10 promontory; this most excellent can- 
opy, the air, look you,— this brave 17 o'erhanging 
firmament, this majestical roof fretted 13 _ with 
golden fire, — why, it appears no other thing to 
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of 320 
vapours. What a piece 19 of work is a man! How 
noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! 20 in 
form, in moving, how express 21 and admirable! 



l (at) a 
2 accord 
Unsolicited 
visit 



4 only (speak) 
to the point 

^palliate 

z for what pur- 
pose 



1 since we were 
brought up 
together 

s more skillful 
pleader 

9 frank, fair 
^straightfor- 
ward 



^upon 



12 anticipate 
13 disclosure 
u not be violated 

^abandoned 



^barren 
11 splendidly 

ornamented 
ln adorned 

19 i.e. wonderful 

piece 
20 mental power 
21 exactly 

adapted 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



117 



in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, 
how like a god! the beauty of the world! the 
paragon 1 of animals f And yet, to me, what is 
this quintessence 2 of dust? man delights not me; 
no, nor woman neither, 3 though, by your smiling, 
you seem to say so. 

Rosencrantz^ My lord, there was no such 330 
stuff* in my thoughts. 

Hamlet. Why did you laugh, then, when I 
said "man delight's not me?" 

Rosencrantz. To think, my lord, if you de- 
light not in man, what Lenten 5 entertainment 
the players shall receive from you: we coted 5 
them on the way; and hither are they coming, 
to offer you service. 

Hamlet. He that plays the king shall be wel- 
come, — his majesty shall have tribute of me; the 340 
adventurous knight shall use his foil 7 and tar- 
get; 9 the lover shall not sigh gratis; 9 the humor- 
ous 10 man shall end his part in peace; the clown 
shall make those laiJgh whose lungs are tickled o' 
the sere; 11 and the lady shall say her mind freely, 
or the blank verse shall halt for 't. — What players 
are they? 

Rosencrantz. Even -those you were wont to 
take delight in, the tragedians of the city. 12 

Hamlet. *~Kow chances™ it they travel? their 350 
residence, both in reputation and profit, was. 
better both ways. 

Rosencrantz. I think, their inhibition 1 * comes 
by the means of the late innovation 15 

Hamlet. Do they hold the same estimation 
they did when I was in the city? Are they so 
followed? 1 * 

Rosencrantz.* No, indeed, they are not. 

Hamlet. How comes it? Do they grow 
rusty? 17 ~+ 360 



pattern 
^highest essence 
3 double neg. 



inothing of the 
kind 



5 scanty, spare 
6 passed by 



7 sword 
8 shield 

8 'without reward 
10 capricious 

n easily set 
laughing 



12 Copenhagen 
u happens 
(verb) 

u legal prohibi- 
tion 

15 lately passed 
injunction 

ie run after 



17 careless 



* How does it happen that they are a strolling company? Permanent 
occupation of a theater would bring them more profit and higher reputation. 



118 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Rosencrantz. *Nay, their endeavour keeps in 
the wonted pace; but there is, sir, an aiery 1 of 
children, little eyases, 2 that cry out on the top of 
question, 3 and are most tyrannically clapped' 1 
for't! these are now the fashion; and so be- 
rattle 5 the common stages, 6 — so they call them, 
— that many, wearing rapiers, are afraid of goose 
quills, and dare scarce come thither. 

Hamlet. What, are they children? who main- 
tains them? how are they escotedP fWill they 370 
pursue 5 the quality 9 no longer than they can 
sing? will they not say afterwards, if they should 
grow themselves to common players, (as it is 
most like, if their means are no better,) their 
writers do them wrong, to make them exclaim 
against their own succession? 

Rosencrantz. Faith, there has been much to 
do on both sides; and the nation holds it no sin, 
to tarre 10 them to controversy: 11 there was for 
a while, no money bid for argument, 12 unless the 380 
poet and the player went to cuffs in the question. 

Hamlet. Is 't possible? 

Guildenstern. O, there has been much throw- 
ing about of brains. 13 

Hamlet. Do the boys carry it awayf u 

Rosencrantz. Ay, .that they do, my lord; 
Hercules, and his load too. 

Hamlet. It is not very strange ; for my uncle 
is king of Denmark, and those that would make 
mows 15 at him while my father lived, give twenty, 390 



^■brood of an 

eagle 
2 nestlings 
Hop of their 

voices 
Houdly 

applauded 
5 cry down 
^players 

1 paid for 

^follow 

^profession 



10 urge them on 
n quarrel 
12 the theme, 
subject 



Controversy 
u win the day 



^grimaces 



* No, they do their best (endeavour) to act as well as ever (keep their 
wonted pace) ; but there is a company (aiery) of boy-actors (eyases) who shriek 
out their parts at the highest pitch of their voices, and are vehemently ap- 
plauded. In the plays they act they cry down (berattle) the regular actors 
(common stages), so that many men (wearing rapiers) hardly dare frequent 
these theaters on account of the sharp witticisms indulged in by the writers 
of the plays (goose quills). 

f Will these boys follow the profession of actor only as long as they are in 
a choir? When older will they not most likely become regular actors? The 
playwrights are putting them in the false position of causing them to declaim 
against a profession which they will eventually adopt. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



119 



400 



forty, fifty, a hundred ducats 1 a-piece, for his 
picture in little. 2 There is something in this more 
than natural, if philosophy could find it out. 

[Flourish of trumpets within. 

Guildenstern. There are the players. 

Hamlet. Gentlemen, you are welcome to 
Elsinore. Your hands, — come: the appurte- 
nance 3 of welcome is fashion and cermony : let me 
comply i with you in this garb, 5 *lest my extent 6 to 
the players, which, I tell you, must show fairly 
outward, should more appear like entertain- 
ment than yours. You are welcome: but my 
uncle-father and aunt-mother are deceived. 

Guildenstern. In what, my dear lord? 

Hamlet. I am but mad north-north-west: 
when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from 
a handsaw. 7 

Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. Well be s with you, gentlemen! 

Hamlet. Hark you, Guildenstern; — and you 
too; — at each ear a hearer: that great baby you 
see there, is not yet out of his swathing-cZowfo. 9 410 

Rosencrantz. Happily 10 he's the second time 
come to them; for, they say, an old man is twice 
a child. 

Hamlet. I will prophesy, he comes to tell me 
of the players; mark it. — You say right, 11 sir: 
o' Monday morning; 'twas so, indeed. 

Polonius. My lord, I have news to tell yod. 

Hamlet. My lord, I have news to tell you. 
When Roscius was an actor in Rome, — 

Polonius. The actors are come hither, my 



420 



lord. 
Hamlet. 
Polonius. 
Hamlet. 



Buz, buz! 12 

Upon my honour, — 
Then came each actor ,- 



^ee Glossary 
Hn miniature 



3 proper accom- 
paniment 
Hink arms 
fashion 
Condescension 



7 heron 



8 be (it) 



^clothes 
10 perchance 



^rightly 



12 stale news 



* Lest it should appear that my reception (extent) of the players, whom I 
must greet cordially, is more hearty than that I give to you. 



120 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Polonius. The best actors in the world, either 
for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral- 
comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, 
tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene in- 
dividable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be 
too heavy, nor Plautus too light. *For the law 430 
of writ, and the liberty, these are the only men. 

Hamlet. O Jephthah, Judge of Israel, what a 
treasure hadst thou! 

Polonius. What a treasure had he, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, 

"One fair daughter, and no more, 
The which he loved passing 1 well." 

Polonius. [Aside.] Still 2 on my daughter. 

Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah? 

Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, 440 
I have a daughter that I love passing well. 

Hamlet. Nay, that follows not. 

Polonius. What follows, then, my lord? 

Hamlet. Why, 

"As by lot, God wot," 
and then, you know, 

"It came to pass, as most like it was," — 
the first row 3 of the pious chanson will show you 
more; for look, where my abridgment* comes. 

[Enter four or five Players.] 

You are welcome, masters; welcome, all: — I am 450 
glad to see thee well:— welcome, good friends — 
O, my old friend! Thy face is valanced^ since I 
saw thee last; com'st thou to beard 6 me in Den- 
mark?— What, my young lady and mistress! 
By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer heaven 7 than 
when I saw you last, by the altitude* of a chop- 
ine.* Pray God, your voice, like a piece of 
uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring. 10 — 



Hery 
2 always 



s verse 

*what puts an 
end to my 
remarks 



& bearded 

6 set at defiance 

''taller 
Hhickness 
9 shoe with 

wooden sole 
10 broken voice 



* Either, These (Seneca and Plautus) are the standards of dramatic rule 
(law of writ) and license (liberty) to vary it; . 

Or These (the players) are the best actors of written drama (law oj 
writ), or of improvising (liberty) = " to gag" in present theatrical language. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



121 



Masters, you are all welcome. We'll e'en to 't 
like French falconers, fly at anything we see: 460 
we'll have a speech straight. 1 Come, give us a 
taste of your quality; 2 come, a passionate 3 
speech. 

1st Player. What speech, my lord? 
Hamlet. I heard thee speak me i a speech 
once, — but it was never acted; or, if it was, not 
above once; for the play, I remember, pleased 
not the million; 'twas caviare 5 to the general: 6 
but it was (as I received it, and others, whose 
judgments in such matters cried in the top of 7 470 
mine) an excellent play, well digested in the 
scenes, set down with as much modesty 8 as cun- 
ning. I remember one said, there were no 
sallets 9 in the lines to make the matter savoury, 
nor no 10 matter in the phrase that might indict 11 
the author of affectation; but called it an honest 
method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very 
much more handsome than fine. One speech in 
it I chiefly loved: 'twas ^Eneas' tale to Dido; 
and thereabout 12 of it especially, where he speaks 480 
of Priam's slaughter. If it live in your memory, 
begin at this line; — let me see, let me see; — 
"The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian 

beast, — " 13 
'Tis not so : — it begins with Pyrrhus : — 
"The rugged Pyrrhus, — he, whose sable 1 * 

arms, 
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble 
When he lay couched in the ominous 15 horse, 
Hath now this dread and black complexion 

smear' d 
With heraldry more dismal : head to foot 
Now is he total gules; 15 horridly trick' d 17 490 

With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons, 
Baked and impasted 18 with the parching 

streets, 
That lend a tyrannous 19 and damned light 



^■straightway 

professional 

skill 
3 full of feeling 

Ho me (dative) 



Unappreciated 

by 
6 supply public 
''surpassed 

Simplicity 

9 savory herbs 

i.e. ribaldry 
10 double neg. 
n convict 



12 that part 
(noun) 



ls liger 
u black 

15 fatal 



15 allred(bloody) 
17 painted 

18 covered with a 
paste 

19 pitiless 



122 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



To their vile murders: roasted in wrath and 

fire, 
And thus o'er-sized 1 with coagulate 2 gore, 3 
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus 
Old grandsire Priam seeks." 
So, proceed you. 

Polonius. 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken; 
with good accent, and good discretion. 500 

1st Player. "Anon,* he finds him 

Striking too short at Greeks; his antique 

sword, 
Rebellious to 5 his arm, lies where it falls, 
Repugnant to command: unequal 6 match'd, 
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; 7 in rage strikes wide ; 
But with the whiff and wind of his fell 8 sword 
The unnerved 9 father falls. Then senseless 10 

Ilium, 
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top 
Stoops to his 11 base, and with a hideous crash 
Takes prisoner 12 Pyrrhus' ear : for lo ! his sword, 510 
Which was declining 13 on the milky 1 * head 
Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick: 
So, as a painted 15 tyrant, Pyrrhus stood; 
*And like a neutral to his will and matter, 
Did nothing. 

But, as we often see, against 16 some storm, 
A silence in the heavens, the rack 17 stand still, 
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below 13 
As hush 19 as death, anon the dreadful thunder 
Doth rend the region; 20 so, after Pyrrhus' 520 

pause, 
Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work; 
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall 
On Mars's armour, forged for proof eterne, 21 
With less remorse 22 than Pyrrhus' bleeding 

sword 
Now falls on Priam. — 



Smeared 

2 dried 

3 blood 



Refusing to 

obey 
^unequally 
7 strikes 
s cruel 
9 feeble 
10 apparently 

lifeless 

n its 

12 slrikes on 
13 descending 
u white-haired 

15 as in a picture 



16 before 
17 clouds 
1B earth 
19 silent 
20 sky 



21 always im- 
penetrable 
22 pity 



* Unable to decide between his will and that upon which he would vent 
his anger. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



123 



Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you 

gods, 
In general synod, 1 take away her power; 
Break all the spokes and fellies* from her 

wheel, 
And bowl the round nave 3 down the hill of 

heaven, 

As low as to the fiends!" 530 

Polonius. This is too long. 
Hamlet. It shall to the barber's, with your 
beard. — Pr'ythee, say on; — he's for a jig, or he 
sleeps: — say on; — come to Hecuba. 
1st Player. "But who, O, who had seen the 

mobled i queen 

Hamlet. "The mobled queen?" 

Polonius. That's good; "mobled queen" is 

good. 
1st Player. "Run barefoot up and down, 

threat'ning 5 the flames 
With bisson rheum; 6 a clout 7 upon that head 
Where late the diadem stood; and, for? a 

robe, 540 

About her lank and all o'er-teemed 9 loins, 
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up; 
Who 10 this had seen, with tongue in venom 

steep'd, 
'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have 

pronounced : 
But if the gods themselves did see her then, 
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport 
In 11 mincing with his sword her husband's 

limbs, 
The instant 12 burst of clamour that she made 
(Unless things mortal move them not at all) 
Would have made milch 13 the burning eyes of 

heaven 550 

And passion in u the gods." 
Polonius. Look, whether he has not turned 15 
his colour and has tears in's eyes. Pr'ythee, no 
more. 



^■council 
2 felloes 

3 hub of the 
wheel 



tmuffled up 



6 i.e. to put out 
^blinding tears 
7 a rag 
Hn place of 

^exhausted 
10 anyone who 



n in the act of 

immediate 

13 milk-giving, 

i.e. tearful 
u compassionate 

^changed 



124 



HAMLET 



[Act II 



Hamlet. 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out 
the rest 1 soon. — Good, my lord, will you see the 
players well bestowed? 2 Do you hear, let them be 
well used; 3 for they are the abstracts* and brief 
chronicles^ of the time: *after your death you 
were better have 6 a bad epitaph, than their ill 560 
report while you live. 

Polonius. My lord, I will use them according 
to their desert. 

Hamlet. God's bodykins, man, much better: 
use every man after 7 his desert,* and who should 
'scape whipping? Use them after your own hon- 
our and dignity: the less they deserve, the more 
merit is in your bounty. Take them in. 

Polonius. Come, sirs. 

Hamlet. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a 570 
play to-morrow, — [Exit Polonius, with all the 
Players except the first.] Dost thou hear me, old 
friend; can you play the murder of Gonzago? 

1st Player. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. We'll have it to-morrow night. You 
could for a need, 9 study a speech of some dozen 
or sixteen lines, which I would 10 set down and in- 
sert in't, could you not? 

1st Player. Ay, my lord. 

Hamlet. Very well.; — Follow that lord; and 580 
look you mock him not. [Exit 1st Player.] [To 
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] My good 
friends, I'll leave you till night : you are welcome 
to Elsinore. 

Rosencrantz. Good my lord! 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.] 

Hamlet. Ay, so, God be wi' 11 you! — Now I 
am alone. 

Ct), what a rogue and peasant slave 12 am I! 
Is it not monstrous, that this player here, 
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion, 
Could force his soul so to his own f conceit, 13 590 



Complete the 

speech 
Hedged 
Hreated 
^-summaries 
^records 
6 had better have 



''according to 
^merits 



Hf it is neces- 
sary 
10 should like to 



n with 

12 wretched 
bondman 

13 conception 



* A bad character during life is worse than a bad epitaph, 
f Conceit = conception of the part he is playing. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



125 



That, from her 1 working, all his visage wann'd, 2 

Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect, 

A broken voice, and his whole function* suiting 

With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing ! 

For Hecuba! 

What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba, 

That he should weep for her? What would he do, 

Had he the motive and the cue* for passion 

That I have? He would drown the stage with 

tears, 
And cleave the general ear 5 with horrid speech; 600 
Make mad the guilty, and appal the free, 5 
Confound the ignorant; and amaze, 7 indeed, 
The very faculties of eyes and ears. 
Yet I, 

A dull and muddy-mettled 8 rascal, *peak, 3 
Like John-a-dreams, 10 unpregnant of my cause, 
And can say nothing; no, not for a king, 
Upon whose property, 11 and most dear life, 
A damn'd defeat 12 was made. Am I a coward? 
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate 13 across? 610 
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face? 
Tweaks 1 * me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the 

throat, 
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this, 15 
Ha! 

Why, I should take it: 15 ffor it cannot be 
But I am pigeon-liver 'd, 17 and lack gall 18 
To make oppression bitter; or, ere this, 
I should haye fatted 13 all the region kites 20 
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain! 
Remorseless, 21 treacherous, lecherous, kindless 22 620 

villain! 
O, vengeance! 

Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave, 
That I, the son of a dear father murder' d, 



H.e.the soul's 
Hurned -pale 

faculty of 
action 



4 i.e. the actor's 
cue 

^public ear 
Hnnocent, free 

from guilt 
7 confound 

Hrresolute 
3 mope 
10 the dreamer 

n very person 
12 destruction 
13 head 

u pulls 

15 this to me 
(dative) 

16 suffer it 

17 timid 

18 without 

courage 
19 madefat 
20 kites of the air 
21 pitiless 
22 unnatural 



* Mope like a dreamer, unquickened by any active thoughts relating to 
my cause. 

f For it must be that I am none other than a coward and without that 
spirit which feels insult bitterly. 



126 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, 
Must, like a want'n, 1 unpack my heart with 

words, 
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab, 2 
A scullion! 3 

Fie upon't! foh! About, i my brain! I have heard 
That guilty creatures, sitting at a play, 
Have by the very cunning of the scene 630 

Been struck so to the soul, that presently* 
They have proclaim'd their malefactions; 6 
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak 
With most miraculous organ. 7 I'll have these 

players 
Play something like the murder of my father 
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks; 
I'll tent 8 him to the quick: if he but blench, 9 
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen 
May be the devil : and the devil hath power 
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps 640 
Out of 10 my weakness, and my melancholy, 
As he is very potent with such spirits, 
Abuses 11 me to damn me: I'll have grounds 12 
More relative 13 than this: the play's the thing 
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king. 

[Exit. 



Scene I . 



ACT III. 

-A Room in the Castle. 



Enter King, Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, 

ROSENCRANTZ, and GUILDENSTERN. 

King. And can you, by no drift of circum- 
stance, 14 ' 
Get from him why he puts on 15 this confusion, 16 
Grating 17 so harshly all his days of quiet 
With turbulent 18 and dangerous lunacy? 

Rosencrantz. Hte does confess he feels himself 
distracted; 
But from what cause, he will by no means speak. 



Canton 

2 dirty woman 
z kitchenwench 
l get to work 



Hmmediately 

6 evil deeds 

(five syl- 
lables) 

7 instrument 



8 probe 
9 start 



10 by means of 

^deceives 
12 reasons 
"conclusive 



u roundabout 

method 
^assumes 
16 i.e. of mind 
"disturbing 
18 restless 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



Guildenstern. Nor do we find him forward*- to 
be sounded; 
But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof, 2 
When we would bring him on to some confession 
Of his true state. 

Queen. Did he receive you well? 10 

Rosencraniz. Most like a gentleman. 

Guildenstern. But with much forcing 3 of his 
disposition,* 

Rosencraniz. * Niggard op question; but, of 
our demands, 
Most free in his reply. 

Queen. Did you assay 6 him 

To any pastime. 

Rosencrantz. Madam, it so fell 1 out, that 
certain players 
We o'er-raught* on the way; of these we told 

him: 
And there did seem in him a kind of joy 
To hear of it: they are about the court; 
And, as I think, they have already order 20 

This night to play before him. 

Polonius. 'Tis most true: 

And he beseech'd* me to entreat your majesties 
To hear and see the matter. 

King. With all my heart; and it doth much 
content me 
To hear him so inclined. — 
Good gentlemen, give him a further edge, 10 
And drive his purpose on to these delights. 

Rosencrantz. We shall, my lord. 

Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guii/DEnstern. 

King. Sweet Gertrude, leave us too; 

For we have closely 11 sent for Hamlet hither, 
That he, as 'twere by accident, may here 30 

Affront 12 Ophelia; 

Her father and myself (lawful espials 13 ) 
Will so bestow 14 ' ourselves, that, seeing, unseen, 



127 

billing 

2 {he) holds off 



3 apparent un- 
willingness 

*mood 

6 stingy as 
regards 

Hempt 

^happened 

^overtook 



^besought 



"urging 



n secretly 

12 confront 
13 spies 
u place, conceal 



*We obtained very little of what we tried to draw out of him, but he was 
very ready in replying to our questions. 



128 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



We may of their encounter frankly 1 judge; 
And gather by him, as he is behaved, 
If 't be the affection of his love, or no, 
That thus he suffers for. 

Queen. I shall 2 obey you. 

And for your part, Ophelia, I do wish 
That your good beauties be the happy cause 
Of Hamlet's wildness: 3 so shall I hope your vir- 
tues 
Will bring him to his wonted* way again, 
To both your honours. 5 

Ophelia. Madam, I wish it may. 

[Exit Queen. 

Polonius. Ophelia, walk you here. — Gracious, 
so please you, 
We will bestow 6 ourselves. [To Ophelia] Read 

on 7 this book; 
That show of such an exercise may colour* 
Your loneliness. 9 We are oft to blame in this, — 
'Tis too much 10 proved, — that with devotion's 

visage, 11 
And pious action, we do sugar o'er 
The devil himself. 

King. [Aside.] O, 'tis too true! how smart 
A lash that speech doth give my conscience! 
O heavy burden! 
Polonius. I hear him coming: let's with- 
draw, my lord. 

[Exeunt King and Polonius. 

Enter Hamlet. 

Hamlet. To be, or not to be, — that is the 
question: 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous Fortune, 
*Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And by opposing end them? To die, — to sleep, — 
No more; and, by a sleep, to say we end 



40 



50 



freely 



2 will 



3 madness 

Accustomed 
6 to the honor 
of both of you 



6 hide 

Hn 

^excuse 

9 being alone 
^frequently 
n appearance of 



'Take arms against a host of troubles which break in upon us like a 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



129 



The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation 60 

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, — to sleep; — 
To sleep! perchance to dream: — ay, there's the 

rub; 1 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may 

come, 
*When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 2 
Must give us pause: there's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life; 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of 

time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's con- 
tumely, 3 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns* 70 

That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 5 
When he himself might his quietus make 5 
With a bare bodkin? 7 Who would fardels 8 bear, 
To grunt 9 and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death, 
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn 10 
No traveller returns, puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not of? 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 80 
t And thus the native hue 11 of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 12 
And enterprises of great pith 13 and moment, 1 * 
With this regard, their currents turn awry, 
And lose the name of action. — Soft you 16 now! 
The fair Ophelia! — Nymph, in thy orisons 16 
Be all my sins remember'd. 

Ophelia. Good my lord, 

How does your honour for this many a day? 17 

Hamlet. I humbly thank you ; well , well , well . 

Ophelia. My lord, I have remembrances 13 of 
yours, 90 



hindrance 



Hurmoil of life 



Hnsolence 

Hnsults 
3 puts up with 
B end his life 
7 dagger 
^burdens 
9 groan 

10 boundary 



n natural color 
12 anxiety 
13 height 
importance 

n hush 
Sprayers 



17 long time 
18 keepsakes 



* When we have put off this mortal body now coiled round the soul, 
t Resolution loses its natural color and becomes pale through anxiety. 



130 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



That I have longed long to re-deliver; 1 
I pray you, now receive them. 

Hamlet. No, not I ; 

I never gave you aught. 2 

Ophelia. My honour'd lord, you know right 
well you did; 
And with them, words of so sweet breath com- 
posed, 
As made the things more rich: their perfume 

lost, 
Take these again; 3 for to the noble mind, _ 
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. 
There, my lord. 

Hamlet. Ha, ha! are you honest? i 100 

Ophelia. My lord! 

Hamlet. Are you fair? 

Ophelia. What means your lordship? 

Hamlet. That if you be honest and fair, your 
honesty should admit no discourse to your 
beauty. 

Ophelia. Could beauty, my lord, have better 
commerce* than with honesty? 6 

Hamlet. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty 
will sooner transform honesty from what it is to 110 
a bawd, than the force of honesty can translate 
beauty into his likeness: this was sometime 1 & 
paradox, but now the time gives it proof. 8 I did 
love you once. 

Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me be- 
lieve so. 

Hamlet. You should not have believed me; 
*for virtue cannot so inoculate* our old stock, 
but we shall relish of it: I loved you not. 

Ophelia. I was the more deceived. 120 

Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery : I am myself in- 
different 10 honest; but yet I could accuse me 11 of 
such things, that it were better my mother had 
not borne me : I am very proud, revengeful, ambi- 



x gwe back 
^anything 



3 i.e. back again 



^virtuous 



^intercourse 

^virtue 



''formerly 
8 proves it 



9 graft 



10 ordinarily 
u myself 



* Virtue cannot be so grafted on our nature as to remove all flavor of 
our natural badness. 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



131 



tious; with more offences at my beck 1 than I 
have thoughts to put them in, imagination to 
give them shape, or time to act them in. What 
should such fellows as I do crawling between 
heaven and earth? We are arrant 2 knaves, all; 
believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. 130 
Where's your father? 

Ophelia. At home, my lord. 

Hamlet. Let the doors be shut upon him, 
that he may play the fool nowhere but 3 in's own 
house. Farewell. 

Ophelia. O, help him, you sweet heavens! 

Hamlet. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee 
this plague for thy dowry, — be thou as chaste 
as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape 
calumny. Get thee to a nunnery, go: farewell. 140 
Or, if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for 
wise men know well enough what monsters you 
make of them. To a nunnery, go ; and quickly 
too. Farewell. 

Ophelia. O heavenly powers, restore him! 

Hamlet. I have heard of your paintings, too, 
well enough; God hath given you one face, and 
you make yourselves another :*you jig, you am- 
ble, and you lisp, and nick-name God's creatures, 
and make your wantonness' 1 your ignorance. Go 150 
to, I'll no more on't; it hath made me mad. I 
say, we will have no more marriages: those 
that are married already, all but one 5 shall live; 
the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go. 

[Exit. 

Ophelia. O, what a noble mind is here o'er- 
thrown! 
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, 

sword; 
The expectancy 5 and rose 1 of the fair state, 
fThe glass of fashion, and the mould of form, 



l call 



Hhorough 



3 except 



Affectation 
5 i.e. the king 



%ope 
''fairest flower 



* You give wrong names to God's creatures out of affectation, and .pre- 
tend it is ignorance. 

t Mirror of courtesy and model by whom all endeavored to form them- 
selves. 



132 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



The observed of 1 all observers, quite, quite 

down! 
And I, of ladies most deject 2 and wretched, 160 

That suck'd the honey of his music 3 vows, 
Now see that noble and most sovereign* reason, 
Like sweet bells jangled, out of tune and harsh; 
That unmatch'd form and feature of blown 

youth 
Blasted with ecstasy. 6 O, woe is me ! 
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see ! 
Re-enter King and Polonius. 
King. Love! his affections do not that way 
tend; 
Nor 6 what he spake, though it lack'd form a 

little, 
Was not 6 like madness. There's something in 

his soul, 
O'er which his melancholy sits on brood; r 170 

And, I do doubt, the hatch, and the disclose, 5 
Will be some danger: 3 which, for to prevent, 10 
I have, in quick determination, 
Thus set it down: he shall with speed to 11 Eng- 
land, 
For the demand of our neglected tribute: 
Haply, the seas, and countries different, 
With variable 12 objects, shall expel 
This something 13 settled matter in his heart; 
Whereon his brains still 1 * beating, puts him thus 
From fashion of himself. What think you on't? 15 180 
Polonius. It shall do well: but yet do I be- 
lieve 
The origin and commencement of his grief 
Sprung from neglected love. How now, Ophelia ! 
You need not tell us what Lord Hamlet said; 
We heard it all. My lord, do as you please ; 
But, if you hold it fit, after the play 
Let his queen mother all alone entreat him 
To show his grief: let her be round 16 with him; 
And I'll be placed, so please you, in the ear 11 
Of all their conference. If she find him not, 13 190 



*by 



Rejected 
3 musical 
^supreme 



6 madness 



6 double nee 



''brooding 
hevelation 
9 i.e. to me 
w antidpate 

n {go) to 



^various 
13 somewhat 
u always 
1B o/ it 



16 plain-spoken 
17 within hearing 
18 i.e. his secret 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



133 



To England send him; or confine him where 
Your wisdom best shall think. 

King. It shall be so : 

Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene II. — A Hall in the Castle. 
Enter Hamlet and certain Players. 

Hamlet. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I 
pronounce it to you, trippingly on the tongue: 
but if you mouth 1 it, as many of your 2 players 
do, I had as lief 3 the town-crier spoke my lines. 
Nor* do not* saw the air too much with your 
hand, thus; but use all gently: for in the very 
torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind 
of passion, you must acquire and beget a tem- 
perance* that may give it smoothness. O, it 
offends me to the soul, to hear a robustious 6 
periwig-pated 1 fellow tear a passion to tatters, 
to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; 8 
who, for the most part, are capable of 9 nothing but 
inexplicable dumb-shows, and noise: I would 
have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Terma- 
gant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it. 

1st Player. I warrant your honour. 

Hamlet. Be not too tame neither, but let 
your own discretion be your tutor: suit the 
action to the word, the word to the action; with 
this special observance, that you o'erstep not 
the modesty 10 of nature: for anything so over- 
done is from 11 the purpose of playing; whose 
end, 12 both at the first, and now, was, and is, to 
hold, as 'twere,the mirror up to nature; to show 
virtue her own feature, scorn her own image 13 
and *the very age and body of the time his form 
and pressure 1 * Now, this overdone, or come 
tardy off 1 * though it make the unskilful 16 laugh, 



10 



20 



* The present age with its principal characteristics. 



^peak bom- 
bastically 

2 well-known 

3 as soon 

4 double nega- 
tive 

b self-control 

^violent 

''wearing a wig 

^audience in 
the pit. See 
Glossary 

9 can appreciate 



10 moderation 

ll contrary 

12 purpose 

13 likeness 



^character 

15 f alien short of 

^ignorant 



134 



HAMLET 



cannot but make the judicious grieve; the 30 
censure 1 of the which 2 one must in your allow- 
ance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. 3 O, 
there be players* that I have seen play, and 
heard others praise, and that highly, not to 
speak it profanely, that, neither having the 
accent of Christians, nor the gait 5 of Christian, 
pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed, 
that I have thought some of nature's journey- 
men 6 had made men, and not made them well, 
they imitated humanity so abominably. 40 

1st Player. I hope we have reformed that 
indifferently 7 with us, sir. 

Hamlet. O, reform it altogether. And let 
those that play your clowns speak no more than 
is set down for them; for there be of 8 them that 
will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of 
barren 9 spectators to laugh too; though in the 
meantime some necessary question of the play be 
then to be considered: that's villainous, and 
shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that 50 
uses it. Go, make you ready. [Exeunt Players. 

Enter Polonius, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 
How now, my lord! will the king hear this piece 
of work? 
Polonius. And the queen, too, and that 

presently. 10 
Hamlet. Bid the players make haste. 

[Exit Polonius. 
Will you two help to hasten them? 
Rosencrantz. } We will my lord . 
Guildenstern. J ' J 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Hamlet. What ho, Horatio! 

Enter Horatio. 
Horatio. Here, sweet lord, at your service. 
Hamlet. Horatio, thou art e'en as just a man 60 
As e'er my conversation coped withal. 11 
Horatio. O, my dear lord, — 



[ACT III 



judgment 
2 i.e. the 

judicious 
H.e. the 

ignorant 
4 i.e. a class of 
6 walk 



^workmen 

7 tolerably well 

^certain of 
^foolish 



^immediately 



^encountered 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



135 



Hamlet. Nay, do not think I flatter : 

For what advancement 1 may I hope from thee, 
That no revenue 2 hast, but thy good spirits 
To feed and clothe thee? Why should the poor 

be flattered? 
No, let the candied tongue 3 lick absurd pomp; 
And crook* the pregnant* hinges of the knee, 
Where thrift 6 may follow fawning. Dost thou 

hear? 
*Since my dear soul was mistress of her choice, 
And could of 7 men distinguish,* her election 70 

Hath seal'd thee for herself: for thou hast been 
As one, in 8 suffering 9 all, that suffers nothing; 
A man that Fortune's buffets and rewards 
Hast ta'en with equal thanks: and blessed are 

those, 
Whose blood 10 and judgment 11 are so well com- 
mingled, 
That they are not a pipe 12 for Fortune's finger 
To sound what stop she please. Give me that 

man 
That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him 
In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of heart, 
As I do thee. — Something too much of this. — 80 
There is a play to-night before the king; 
One scene of it comes near the circumstance, 
Which I have told thee, of my father's death: 
I pr'ythee 13 when thou seest that act a-foot, u 
Even with the very comment of thy soul 
Observe mine uncle : if his occulted 1 * guilt 
Do not itself unkennel 16 in one speech, 
It is a damned ghost that we have seen; 
And my imaginations are as foul 
As Vulcan's stithy. 11 Give him heedful note ; 90 

For I mine eyes will rivet to his face, 
And, after, we will both our judgments join 



preferment 
'revenue 



z hypocrite 
'bend 
b ready 
6 gain 

''about 

Hn the act of 
^cheerfully 
bearing 



1Q passion 
u reason 

12 flageolet 



13 pray thee 
u being acted 

^concealed 
16 disclose 



"forge 



* Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, brought up with Hamlet, were the 
companions of his youth. Horatio was the intimate friend of maturer years 
when he could distinguish the characters of men. 



136 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



In censure 1 of his seeming. 2 

Horatio. Well, my lord: 

If he steal aught the whilst 3 this play is playing, 
And 'scape* detecting, I will pay the theft. 5 

Hamlet. They are coming to the play; I 
must be idle: 8 
Get you a place. 

Danish march. A flourish. Enter King, 
Queen, Polonius, Ophelia, Rosen- 
crantz, Guildenstern, and other 
Lords attendant, with the Guard carrying 
torches. 

King. How fares 7 our cousin Hamlet? 

Hamlet. Excellent, 8 i' faith; of the chameleon's 
dish: s I eat the air, promise-crammed: you can- 100 
not feed capons so. 

King. I have nothing 10 with this answer, 
Hamlet: these words are not mine. 11 

Hamlet. No, nor mine now. — [To Polonius] 
My lord, you played once in the university, you 
say? 

Polonius. That did I, my lord; and was ac- 
counted a good actor. 

Hamlet. And what 12 did you enact? 13 

Polonius. I did enact Julius Caesar; I was 110 
killed i' the Capitol; Brutus killed me. 

Hamlet. It was a brute part of him to kill so 
capital a calf there. — Be the players 1 * ready? 

Rosencrantz. Ay, my lord; they stay upon 15 
your patience. 

Queen. Come hither, my dear Hamlet, sit 
by me. -h 

No, good mother, here's metal more 
[Lying down at Ophelia's feet. 
[To the King] 0, ho! do you mark 120 



Hamlet. 
attractive. 

Polonius. 
that? 

Ophelia. 

Hamlet. 

Ophelia. 



You are merry, my lord. 
Who, I? 
Ay, my lord. 



judgment 
2 behavior 

Hime (noun) 
^escape 
B what is stolen 

^foolish 



''does 

^excellently 
9 ora air 

lr >no informa- 
tion 

n do not refer to 
me 



12 i.e. what part 
u play 



^company 
ls await 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



137 



Hamlet. OGod! your only jig-maker. What 
should a man do but be merry? for, look you, 
how cheerfully my mother looks, and my father 
died within these two hours. 1 

Ophelia. Nay, 'tis twice two months, my 
lord. 130 

Hamlet. So long? Nay, then, let the devil 
wear black, for I'll have a suit of sables. O 
heavens! die two months ago, and not forgotten 
yet? Then there's hope a great man's memory 
may outlive his life half a year: but, by'r 2 lady, 
he must build churches, then; or else shall he 
suffer not thinking on, 3 with the hobby-horse, 
whose epitaph is, "For, O, for, 0, the hobby- 
horse is forgot." 

Trumpet sounds. The dumb show enters. 

Enter a King and a Queen, very lovingly; 
the Queen embracing him, and he her. 
She kneels, and makes show of protesta- 
tion unto him. He takes her up, and 
declines his head upon her neck: lays 
him down upon a bank of flowers: she, 
seeing him asleep, leaves him. Anon 
comes in a fellow, takes off his crown, 
kisses it, and pours poison in the King's 
ears, and exit. The Queen returns, finds 
the King dead, and makes passionate 
action. The poisoner, with some two or 
three mutes, comes in again, seeming to 
lament with her. The dead body is car- 
ried away. The poisoner wooes the 
Queen with gifts: she seems loth and 
unwilling awhile, but in the end accepts 
his love. [Exeunt. 

Ophelia. What means this, my lord? 140 

Hamlet. Marry, this is miching mallecho;* it 

means mischief. 

Ophelia. Belike 5 this show 6 imports the 

argument 1 of the play. 



Hess than two 
hours ago 



2 by our 



^oblivion 



i secret, insidi- 
ous mischief 
^perhaps 
B dumb show 
Hheme, subject 



138 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Enter Prologue. 

Hamlet. We shall know by this fellow: the 
players cannot keep counsel; 1 they'll tell all. 

Ophelia. Will he tell us what this show 
meant? 

Prologue. For us and for our tragedy, 

Here stooping to your clemency, 150 

We beg your hearing patiently. [Exit. 

Hamlet. Is this a prologue, or the posy 2 of a 
ring? 

Ophelia. 'Tis brief, my lord. 

Hamlet. As woman's love. 

Enter Two Players, King and Queen. 

P. King. Full thirty times had Phoebus' 

cart 3 gone round 
Neptune's salt wash, 4 and Tellus' orbed 5 ground; 
And thirty dozen moons, with borrowed sheen, 6 
About the world have times twelve thirties been; 
Since love our hearts, and Hymen did our hands, 160 
Unite commutual in most sacred bands. 
P. Queen. So many journeys may the sun 

and moon 
Make us again count o'er, ere love be done! 7 
But, woe is me, you are so sick of late, 
So far from cheer, 8 and from your former state, 
That I distrust 9 you. Yet, though I distrust, 
Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing 10 must: 
*For women's fear and love hold quantity; 
In neither aught, or 11 in extremity. 
Now, what my love is, proof hath made you 170 

know; 
And as my love is sized, 12 my fear is so: 
Where love is great, the littlest 13 doubts are fear; 
Where little fears grow great, great love grows 

there. 
P. King. Faith, I must .leave thee, love, and 

shortly too; 



x a secret 



2 poetical motto 



3 chariot of the 

sun 
Hhe sea 
hound 
night 



7 ended 

^cheerfulness 
9 am solicitous 

about 
10 in no way 

n nor 



12 the size of 

my love 
13 least 



* "Women's fear and love vary together, are proportionable; they either 
contain nothing, or what they contain is in extremes" — (Abbott.) 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



139 



My operant 1 powers their functions leave 2 to do : 
And thou shalt live 3 in this fair world behind, 3 
Honour 'd, beloved; and, haply, one as kind 
For husband shalt thou ■ 

P. Queen. 0, confound the rest! 

Such love must needs be treason in my breast: 
In second husband let me be accurst! 180 

None wed the second but who kill'd the first. 

Hamlet. [Aside] Wormwood, wormwood. 

P. Queen. The instances* that second mar- 
riage move, 
Are base respects 5 of thrift, 5 but none of love: 

P. King. I do believe you think what now 
you speak; 
*But what we do determine, oft we break. 
Purpose is but the slave to memory; 
Of violent birth, but poor validity: 7 
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree; 
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be. 
Most necessary 9 'tis, that we forget 190 

To pay ourselves what to ourselves is debt: 9 
What to ourselves in passion we propose, 
The passion ending, doth the purpose lose, 
The violence of either grief or joy 
Their own enactures 10 with 11 themselves destroy: 
Where joy most revels, grief doth most lament; 
Grief joys, joy grieves, on slender accident. 
This world is not for aye; 12 nor 13 'tis not 13 strange, 
That even our loves should with our fortunes 

change ; 
For 'tis a question left us yet to prove, 200 

Whether love lead fortune, or else fortune love. 
The great man down, you mark his favourite 

flies; 
The poor advanced makes friends of enemies. 
And hitherto doth love on fortune tend : 
For who not needs 1 4 shall never lack 15 a friend; 



Active 
2 cease 
3 survive me 



4 motive8 

Considerations 
5 gain 



''strength 



^unavoidable 
9 due 



^resolutions 
n of 



12 ever 
"double neg. 



u has plenty 
15 be without 



* Resolutions are suddenly formed, but are of little strength, and endure 
only as long as we remember them. 



140 



HAMLET 



♦And who in want a hollow friend doth try, 1 

Directly seasons 2 him his enemy. 

But, orderly to end where I begun, 3 

Our wills and fates do so contrary run, 

That our devices still* are overthrown; 210 

Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of our 

own: 
So think thou wilt no second husband wed; 
But die thy thoughts, when thy first lord is dead. 

P. Queen. Nor earth to me give food, nor 
heaven light! 
Sport and repose lock from me, day and night! 
To desperation turn my trust and hope! 
An anchor's 5 cheer 5 in prison be my scope! 7 
Each opposite 9 that blanks* the face of joy, 
Meet what I would have well, and it destroy! 
Both here and hence, pursue me lasting strife, 220 
If, once a widow, ever I be wife! 

Hamlet If she should break it now! 

P. King. 'Tis deeply sworn. Sweet, leave 

me here a while; 

My spirits grow dull, and fain 10 1 would beguile 

The tedious day with sleep. [Sleeps. 

P. Queen. Sleep rock thy brain; 

And never come mischance between us twain! 

[Exit. 

Hamlet. Madam, how like you this play? 

Queen. The lady doth protest too much, 
methinks. 

Hamlet. O, but she'll keep her word. 

King. Have you heard the argument? 11 Is 230 
there no offence in't? 

Hamlet. No, no, they do but jest, poison in 
jest; no offence i' the world. 

King. What do you call the play? 

Hamlet. The Mouse-trap. Marry, how! Trop- 
ically. 12 This play is the image 13 of a murder done 
in Vienna : Gonzago is the duke's name ; his wife, 



[Act Til 

Hests 

hipens 

3 began 

fyver, always 



b hermit's 
B food 

''highest aim 
Obstacle 
a makes pale 



°gladly 



n plot of the play 



15 '-figuratively 
13 likeness 



* If a needy man test a false friend by asking for assistance he will at 
once turn him (ripen) into an enemy. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



141 



Baptista: you shall see anon; 1 'tis a knavish 
piece of work: but what of that? Your majesty, 
and we that have free 2 souls, it touches us not: let 240 
the galled jade 3 wince, our withers* are unwrung. 5 

Enter Lucianus. 

This is one Lucianus, nephew to the king. 

Ophelia. You are as good as a chorus, my 
lord. 

Hamlet. *I could interpret between you and 
your love, 9 if I could see the puppets dallying. 

Ophelia. Still better, and worse. 

Hamlet. Begin, murderer: leave thy damnable 
faces, 7 and begin. Come: the croaking raven 250 
doth bellow for revenge. 

Lucianus. Thoughts black, hands apt, s drugs 
fit, and time agreeing; 
Confederate season, else no creature seeing: 
Thou mixture rank, of midnight weeds collected, 
With Hecate's 9 ban thrice blasted, thrice in- 
fected, 
Thy natural magic and dire property 
On wholesome 10 life usurp immediately. 

[Pours the poison into the sleeper's ears. 

Hamlet. He poisons him i' the garden for his 
estate. His name's Gonzago: the story is 
extant, 11 and written in very choice Italian. You 260 
shall see anon 12 how the murderer gets the love 
of Gonzago's wife. 

Ophelia. The king rises. 

Hamlet What, frighted with false fire! 

Queen. How fares my lord? 

Polonius. Give o'er the play. 

King. Give me some light: away. 

All. Lights, lights, lights! 

[Exeunt all except Hamlet and Horatio. 



Hn an instant 

Hnnocent 
3 sore-backed 

horse 
4 shoulders 
6 sound 



Hover 

''cease looking 
round 

heady 

9 a dissyllable 
^healthy 



n true 
immediately 



* Like the interpreter of the puppet show, I could put words into the 
mouths of yourself and your lover, if I saw the dolls working. 



142 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Hamlet. Why, let the stricken deer 1 go weep, 

The hart 2 ungalUd 3 play; 270 

For some must watch,* while some 

must sleep : 
So runs the world away. 
Would not this, sir,and a forest of feathers, (if the 
rest of my fortunes turn Turk 5 with me), with 
two Provincial roses 6 on my razed 7 shoes, get me 
a fellowship in a cry 9 of players, sir? 
Horatio. Half a share. 
Hamlet. A whole one, I. 

For thou dost know, O Damon dear, 

This realm dismantled was 280 

Of Jove himself; 9 and now reigns here 
A very, very — Peacock. 10 
Horatio. You might have rhymed. 
Hamlet. O good Horatio, I'll take the ghost's 
word for a thousand pound. Didst perceive? 
Horatio. Very well, my lord. 
Hamlet. Upon the talk of the poisoning, — 
Horatio. I did very well note him. 
Hamlet. Ah, ha! — Come, some music! come, 
the recorders! 11 290 

For if the king like not the comedy, 
Why, then, belike, he likes it not 
perdy. 12 
Come, some music! 

Re-enter Rosencrantk and Guildenstern. 

Guildenstern. Good my lord, vouchsafe me 13 
a word with you. 

Hamlet. Sir, a whole history. 

Guildenstern. The king, sir, — 

Hamlet. Ay, sir, what of him? 

Guildenstern. Is, in his retirement, marvel- 
lous 1 * distempered. 16 300 

Hamlet. With drink, sir? 

Guildenstern. No, my lord, rather with 
choler. 16 



Claudius 
2 Hamlet 
3 uninjured 
l keep awake 



^change for the 

worse 
hosettes 
''slashed 
^company 



^Hamlet's 

father 
10 Claudiu8 



n flageolets 



12 par Dieu 
(by God) 



13 dative 



u marvelously 
u out of sorts 



danger 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



143 



Hamlet. Your wisdom should 1 show itself 
more richer, 2 to signify this to his doctor; for, for 
me to put him to his purgation, would perhaps 
plunge him into far more choler. 

Guildenstern. Good my lord, put your dis- 
course into some frame, 3 and start not so wildly 
from my affair. 310 

Hamlet. I am tame, sir: pronounce. 

Guildenstern. The queen, your mother, in 
most great affliction of spirit, hath sent me to 
you. 

Hamlet. You are welcome. 

Guildenstern. Nay, good my lord, this cour- 
tesy is not of the right breed. If it shall please 
you to make me a wholesome* answer, I will do 
your mother's commandment : if not, your par- 
don and my return shall be the end of my busi- 320 
ness. 

Hamlet. Sir, I cannot. 

Guildenstern. What, my lord? 

Hamlet. Make you a wholesome 5 answer; my 
wit's diseased: 6 but, sir, such answer as I can 
make, you shall command; or, rather, as you 
say, my mother : therefore no more, but to the 
matter: my mother, you say, — 

Rosencrantz. Then, thus she says: your 
behaviour hath struck her into amazement 7 and 330 
admiration. 9 

Hamlet. O wonderful son, that can so aston- 
ish a mother! — But is there no sequel 9 at the 
heels of this mother's admiration? Impart. 

Rosencrantz. She desires to speak with you 
in her closet, 10 ere you go to bed. 

Hamlet. We shall obey, were she ten times 
our mother. Have you any further trade 11 with 
us? 

Rosencrantz. My lord, you once did love me. 340 

Hamlet. So I do still, by these pickers and 
stealers. 12 



2 double com- 
parative 



3 order 



Sensible 



^sensible 

6 a play on 
words 



7 perturbation 
^astonishment 



^consequence 

10 private room 
ll business 

u hands. See 
Note III. ii. 
341 • 



144 



HAMLET 



Rosencrantz. Good my lord, what is your cause 
of 1 distemper? You do, surely, bar the door upon 
your own liberty, if you deny your griefs to your 
friend. 

Hamlet. Sir, I lack advancement. 

Rosencrantz. How can that be, when you 
have the voice 2 of the king himself for your suc- 
cession in Denmark? 350 

Hamlet. Ay, sir, but "While the grass grows" 
— the proverb is something musty. 3 

Re-enter the Players, with recorders. 

O, the recorders! let me see one. — To withdraw* 
with you: — why do you go about to recover the 
wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil? 5 

Guildenstern. O, my lord, if my duty be too 
bold, my love is too unmannerly. 

Hamlet. I do not well understand that. Will 
you play upon this pipe?* 

Guildenstern. My lord, I cannot. 360 

Hamlet. I pray you. 

Guildenstern. Believe me, I cannot. 

Hamlet. I do beseech you. 

Guildenstern. I know no touch of it, my lord. 

Hamlet. 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these 
ventages 1 with your finger and thumb, give it 
breath with your mouth, and it will discourse 
most eloquent music. Look you, these are the 
stops. 

Guildenstern. But these cannot I command 370 
to any utterance of harmony; I have not the 
skill. 

Hamlet. Why, look you now, how unworthy 
a thing you make of me ! You would play upon 
me; you would seem to know my stops; you 
would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you 
would sound me from my lowest note to the top 
of my compass: and there is much music, excel- 
lent voice, in this little organ; 8 yet cannot you 
make it speak. 'Sblood, do you think I am 380 



[Act II] 
1 cause of your 

2 promise 

s stale 

4 siep aside 
6 net 

e flageolet 



7 air-holes 



Hnstrument 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



145 



easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me 
what instrument you will, though you can fret 1 
me, you cannot play upon me. 

Enter Polonius. 

God bless you, sir. 

Polonius. My lord, the queen would speak 
with you, and presently. 2 

Hamlet. Do you see yonder cloud that's 
almost in shape of a camel? 

Polonius. By the mass, and 'tis a camel, in- 



' i 



deed. 
Hamlet. 
Polonius. 
Hamlet. 
Polonius. 
1 Hamlet. 



390 



Methinks it is like a weasel. 

It is backed like 3 a weasel. 
Or, like a whale? 

Very like a whale. 
Then I will come to my mother by 
and by.* — They fool* me to the top 6 of my bent. 7 
— I will come by and by. 

Polonius. I will say so. [Exit. 

Hamlet. "By and by" is easily said. Leave 
me, friends. 400 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz , Guildenster,n, Hora- 
tio and Players. 
'Tis now the very vritching time of night, 9 
When churchyards yawn, 9 and hell itself breathes 

out 
Contagion 10 to this world : now could I drink hot 

blood, 
And do such bitter business 11 as the day 
Would quake to look on. Soft! now to my 
mother. 

heart, lose not thy nature; 12 let not ever 
The soul of Nero enter this firm bosom : 
Let me be cruel, not unnatural: 

1 will speak daggers 13 to her, but use none; 
My tongue and soul in this be hypocrites; 410 
How in my words soever she be shent, 11 
To give them seals 15 never, my soul, consent! 

[Exit. 



annoy 



Hmmediately 



hhaped like 
the back of 



4 at once 
Hndulge 
^height 
''inclination 



^midnight 
"open wide 

10 pestilence 

n deeds of bitter 
cruelty 

12 natural 
affection 

13 cutting words 

Reproached 
is fulfil 



146 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Scene III. — A Room in the Castle. 
Enter King, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern. 

King. I like him not; nor stands it safe with 
us 
To let his madness range. Therefore prepare 

you; 
I your commission will forthwith despatch, 
And he to England shall along 1 with you: 
The terms of our estate 2 may not endure 
Hazard so near us as doth hourly grow 
Out of his lunacies. 

Guildenstern. We will ourselves provide; 3 

Most holy and religious fear it is, 
To keep those many many bodies safe, 
That live, and feed, upon your majesty. 

Rosencrantz. The single and peculiar life is 
bound, 
With all the strength and armour of the mind, 
To keep itself from 'noyance;* but much more 
That spirit upon whose weal depend and rest 
The lives of many. The cease 5 of majesty 6 
Dies not alone; but, like a gulf, 7 doth draw 
What's near in with it: it is a massy 8 wheel, 
Fix'd on the summit of the highest mount, 
To whose huge spokes ten thousand lesser 

things 
Are mortised and adjoin'd ; which, 3 when it falls 20 
Each small annexment, petty consequence, 
Attends the boisterous ruin. Never alone 
Did the king sigh, but with a general groan. 

King. Arm you, 10 I pray you, to 10 this 
speedy 11 voyage; 
For we will fetters put upon this fear, 
Which now goes too free-footed. 12 

Rosencrantz. \ ttt m , , . 

Guildenstern. } Wewillh ™ teus - 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 



1 (go) along 

^position as 

king 

3 get ready 



Annoyance, 

injury 
^decease 
6 of a king 
''whirlpool 
8 massive 



9 o/ which 



^prepare for 
1 Hmmediate 

12 unrestrained 



Scene III] 



HAMLET 



147 



Enter Polonius. 

Polonius. My lord, he's going to his mother's 

closet: 1 
Behind the arras 2 I'll convey myself, 
To hear the process; 3 I'll warrant she'll tax him 

home: 30 

And, as you said, and wisely was it said, 
'Tis meet that some more audience than a 

mother, 
Since nature makes them 4 partial, should o'er- 

hear 
The speech, of 5 vantage. 6 Fare you well, my 

liege : 
I'll call upon you ere you go to bed, 
And tell you what I know. 

King. Thanks, dear my lord. 

[Exit Polonius. 
O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; 
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't, 
A brother's murder! Pray, can I not, 
Though inclination be as sharp as will : 40 

My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent; 7 
And, like a man to double business bound, 
I stand in pause 8 where I shall first begin, 
And both neglect. What if 9 this cursed hand 
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood, 
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens 
To wash itwhite as snow ? Whereto serves 10 mercy 
^^-*BuTto confront the visage of offence? 

1 fAnd what's in prayer but this two-fold force, 
To be forestalled 11 ere we come to fall, 50 

Or pardon'd, being down? Then I'll look up; 
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer 
Can serve my turn? "Forgive me my foul 

murder?" 
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd 



private room 

Hapestry 

^account 



Mothers 

5 from 
^advantage 



Hntention 

^hesitating 
9 even suppos- 
ing that 

10 of what avail 
is 

^anticipated 



* To meet sin face to face and to overcome it. 

t The two occasions of prayer: (1) before the sin, i. e., "Lead us not into 
temptation;" (2) after sinning — a prayer for pardon. 



148 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Of those effects 1 for which I did the murder, 

My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. 

May one be pardon'd, and retain the offence? 2 

In the corrupted currents of this world 

♦Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice, 

And oft 'tis seen, the wicked 3 prize itself 60 

Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above; 

There is no shuffling, there the action lies 

In his* true nature; and we ourselves compelVd, 5 

fEven to the teeth and forehead of our faults, 

To give in evidence. What then? what rests? 6 

Try what repentance can: what can it not? 

Yet what can it, when one cannot repent? 

O wretched state! O bosom, black as death! 

O limed 7 soul, that, struggling to be free, 

Art more engaged! 8 Help, angels! make assay: 3 70 

Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart, with strings 

of steel, 
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe! 
All may be well. [Retires and kneels. 

Enter Hamlet. 
Hamlet. Now might I do it pat, now 10 he is 

praying; 
And now I'll do't: — and so he goes to heaven; 
And so am I revenged: — that would 11 be scann'd 12 : — 
A villain kills my father; and, for that, 
I, his sole son, do this same villain send 
To heaven. 

O, this is hire and salary, not revenge. 80 

JHe took my father grossly, full of bread; 
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush 13 as 

May: 
And how his audit 1 * stands, who knows, save 

heaven? 



Advantages 

2 what was 
gained by 
the offence 

3 obtained by 
wickedness 



Hts 

6 (are) com- 
pelled 
'remains 



''captured 

8 bound 

^attempt 



10 while 



n must 
12 inquired into 



13 full blown 
u final account 



* A wealthy offender may bribe the judge {buys out the law) and thus 
put justice aside, for often the prize gained by the crime (wicked prize) ia so 
valuable as to be worth a considerable expenditure in bribes. 

t Straight in the face of our offences; there can be no evasion. 

JHe murdered my father in the midst of indulgence, unpurified by 
fasting, and with sins unrepented. 



Scene IV] 



HAMLET 



149 



But, in our circumstance and course of thought, 

'Tis heavy 1 with him: *and am I, then, revenged, 

To take 2 him in 3 the purging of his soul, 

When he is fit and season'd i for his passage? 5 

No! 

Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent: 6 

When he is drunk, asleep, or in his rage; 90 

At gaming, swearing; or about some act 

That has no relish of salvation in't; 

Then trip him, 7 that his heels may kick at 

heaven, 
And that his soul may be as damn'd and black 
As hell, whereto it goes. My mother stays: 8 
This physic but prolongs thy sickly days. [Exit 

The King rises and advances. 

King. fMy words fly up, my thoughts remain 
below: 
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. 

[Exit. 

Scene IV. — The Queen's Room. 

Enter Queen and Polonius. 

Polonius. He will come straight. 9 Look, you 
lay home to him: 
Tell him his pranks have been too broad 10 to bear 

with, 
And that your grace hath screened and stood 

between 
Much heat 11 and him. I'll silence me e'en 12 here. 
Pray you, be round 13 with him. 

Hamlet. [Within.] Mother, mother, mother! 
Queen. I'll warrant you; 

Fear me not: — withdraw, I hear him coming. 
[Polonius hides behind the arras. 



1 a heavy 

reckoning 
hoere I to take 
Hn the act of 
prepared 
H.e.from life 

to death 
Opportunity 



Hrip him up 



8 is waiting 



^immediately 
10 free 



^king's anger 

12 even 

13 outspoken 



* The fact that I found you at prayer saves your life for a time. 

1 1 pray to heaven for pardon, whilst my thoughts are how to compass 
Hamlet's death. Prayers that are not the expression of the soul's desire can 
never reach heaven. 



150 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



Enter Hamlet. 



Hamlet. Now, mother, what's the matter? 
Queen. Hamlet, thou hast thy father much 

offended. 
Hamlet. Mother, you have my father much 

offended. 10 

Queen. Come, come, you answer with an 

idle 1 tongue. 
Hamlet. Go, go, you question with a wicked 

tongue. 
Queen. Why, how now, Hamlet! 
Hamlet. What's the matter now? 

Queen. Have you forgot me? 
Hamlet. No, by the rood, 2 not so: 

You are the queen, your husband's brother's wife : 
And — would it were not so ! — you are my mother. 
Queen. Nay, then, I'll set those to you that 

can speak. 
Hamlet. Come, come, and sit you down; 
you shall not budge; 3 
You go not, till I set you up a glass 4 
Where you may see the inmost part of you. 20 

Queen. What wilt thou do? thou wilt not 
murder me? 
Help, help, ho! 
Polonius. [Behind.] What, ho! help! help! 

help! 
Hamlet. How now! a rat? 6 [Draws] Dead, 
for a ducat, dead! 

[Makes a pass through the arras. 
Polonius. [Behind] O, I am slain! 

[Falls and dies. 

Queen. me, what hast thou done? 

Hamlet. Nay, I know not: is it the king? 

[Lifts up the arras, and draws forth Polonius. 

Queen. O, what a rash and bloody deed is 

this! 
Hamlet. A bloody deed! almost as bad, good 
mother, 



foolish 



z Holy Cross 



s stir 
hnirror 



b spy 



Scene IV] 



HAMLET 



151 



As kill a king, and marry with his brother. 

Queen. As kill a king? 

Hamlet. Ay, lady, 'twas my word. 30 

[To Polonius.] Thou wretched, rash, intruding 

fool, farewell! 
I took thee for thy better: 1 take thy fortune; 
Thou find'st to be too busy 2 is some danger. 3 — 
Leave* wringing of your hands: peace! sit you 

down, 
And let me wring your heart: for so I shall, 
If it be made of penetrable stuff; 
If damned custom have not braz'd it so, 
That it is proof and bulwark against sense. 5 

Queen. What have I done, that thou darest 
wag thy tongue 
In noise so rude against me? 

Hamlet. Such an act, 40 

That blurs the grace and blush of modesty; 
Calls virtue, hypocrite; takes off the rose 
From the fair forehead of an innocent 6 love, 
And sets a blister there; makes marriage vows 
As false as dicers'"' oaths: O, such a deed, 
As from the body of contraction* plucks 
The very soul, and sweet religion makes 
A rhapsody of words : *heaven's face doth glow; 9 
Yea, this solidity and compound mass, 10 
With tristful visage, as against 11 the doom, 12 50 

Is thought-sick at the act. 13 

Queen. Ah me, what act 1 * 

That roars so loud, and thunders in the index? 15 

Hamlet. Look here, upon this picture, and 
on this, 
The counterfeit presentment 16 of two brothers, 
See, what a grace was seated on this brow; 
Hyperion's curls; the front of Jove himself; 
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command; 
A station 17 like the herald Mercury, 
New-lighted 1 * on a heaven-kissing 19 hill; 



Hhe king 
2 officious 
3 dangerous 
'cease 



Reeling 



6 two syllables 

''gamblers' 
^marriage con- 
tract 

9 blush 
10 the earth 
n before 
12 doomsday 
13 deed 

u play or drama 
^prologue 



16 picture 



"attitude 
18 just alighted 
"lofty 



* Heaven blushes at you; yea, the solid mass of earth, with sorrowful 
appearance, if before the day of judgment, is sick with anxiety. 



152 



HAMLET 



[Act in 



A combination, and a form, indeed, 60 

Where every god did seem to set his seal, 

To give the world assurance of a man: 

This was your husband. Look you now, what 

follows : 
Here is your husband; like a mildew'd ear, 
Blasting his wholesome 1 brother. Have you 

eyes? 
Could you on this fair mountain leave 2 to feed, 
And batten 3 on this moor? Ha! have you eyes? 
You cannot call it love; for, at your age, 
The hey-day* in the blood is tame, it's humble, 
And waits upon the judgment: and what judg- 
ment ts 
Would step from this to this? *Sense, sure, you 

have, 
Else could you not have motion: 5 but, sure, that 

sense 
Is apoplex'd: 6 for madness would not err; 
Nor 7 sense to ecstasy 3 was ne'er 7 so thralled 9 
But it reserved some quantity 10 of choice, 
To serve in such a difference. What devil was't 
That thus hath cozen'd 11 you at hoodman-blind? 12 
Eyes without feeling, feeling without sight, 
Ears without hands or eyes, smelling sans 13 all, 
fOr but a sickly part of one true sense 80 

Could not so mope 1 * 

O shame! where is thy blush? Rebellious hell, 
If thou canst mutine 15 in a matron's bones, 
To naming youth let virtue be as wax, 
And melt in her own fire: proclaim no shame 
When the compulsive ardour gives the charge, 
Since frost itself as actively doth burn, 
And reason panders will. 



Wealthy 

2 cease 
3 grow fat 

tpassion 

^emotion 

^affected with 
apoplexy 

7 double neg. 

s madness 

^enslaved 
10 portion 
n cheated 
12 blind man's 

buff 
13 without 
u be so stupid 

^mutiny 

two syllables 



* You must have the power of feeling, or you could not have emotion; 
but your senses must be paralyzed: for a madman would not make such a 
mistake; for his senses are never so much the slave of his madness as not to 
retain some power of choice, so as to distinguish a contrast so marked as in 
these two pictures. 

t If any one of your senses had even the slightest portion remaining. 



Scene IV] 



HAMLET 



153 



Queen. 



O Hamlet, speak no more. 



Thou turn'st mine eyes into my very soul ; 
And there I see such black and grained 1 spots 
As will not leave their tinct. 2 

Hamlet. Nay, but to live 

'Stewed in corruption, honeying and making love 
Over the nasty sty, — 

Queen. 0, speak to me no more; 

These words, like daggers, enter in 3 mine ears; 
No more, sweet Hamlet! 

Hamlet. A murderer and a villain; 

A slave, that is not twentieth part the tithe* 
Of your precedent 5 lord: a Vice 6 of kings; 
A cutpurse 1 of the empire and the rule, 
That from a shelf the precious diadem stole, 
And put it in his pocket! 

Queen. No more! 

Hamlet. A king of shreds and patches, — 

Enter Ghost. 

Save me, and hover o'er me with your wings, 
You heavenly guards! — What would your gra- 
cious figure? 

Queen. Alas, he's mad! 

Hamlet. Do you not come your tardy s son to 
chide, 
That, lapsed in time and passion, lets go by 
The important^ acting™ of your dread command? 
O, say! 

Ghost. Do not forget : this visitation 11 
Is but to whet 12 thy almost blunted purpose. 
But, look, amazement 13 on thy mother sits: 
O, step between her and her fighting soul; 
Conceit 1 * in weakest bodies strongest works: 
Speak to her, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. How is it with you, lady? 

Queen. Alas, how is 't with you, 
That you do bend your eye on vacancy, 



90 



100 



110 



x dyed in grain 
2 dye, color 



Hnto 



Henth 
^former 
6 clown 
Hhief 



^dilatory 



^urgent 
^performance 

n visit 

12 sharpen 

13 perturbation 



imagination 
or conscience 



*Who, given up to delay and sentiment, neglects to obey your awful 
command, which calls for instant action. 



154 



HAMLET 



[Act Til 



And with the incorporal 1 air do hold discourse? 
Forth at your eyes your spirits wildly peep; 
And, as the sleeping soldiers in the alarm, 
*Your bedded? hair, like life in excrements, 3 
Starts up, and stands on end. O gentle son, 
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper* 
Sprinkle cool patience. Whereon do you look? 
Hamlet. On him, on him! Look you, how 
pale he glares! 
|His form and cause conjoin'd, preaching to 

stones, 
Would make them capable. 6 — Do not look upon 

me, 
JLest with this piteous action you convert 
My stern effects: then, what have I to do 
Will want true colour; tears, perchance, for 
blood. 
Queen. To whom do you speak this? 
Hamlet. Do you see nothing there? 

Queen. Nothing at all; yet all that is I see. 
Hamlet. Nor did you nothing hear? 
Queen. No, nothing but ourselves. 

Hamlet. Why look you there! look, how it 
steals away! 6 
My father, in his habit as 1 he lived! 
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the 
portal! 9 [Exit Ghost. 

Queen. This is the very coinage 9 of your 
brain: 
This bodiless creation ecstasy i0 
Is very cunning in. 

Hamlet. Ecstasy! 

My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time, 
And makes as healthful music ; it is not madness 



120 



130 



Hncorporeal or 
immaterial 



Hying flat 
^excrescences 

^disorder 



B sc. of feeling 



^gradually 
vanishes 
7 as when 

8 door 
Hnvention 

10 madness 



* Your hair, lying flat, starts up and stands on end, as if life were suddenly 
infused into a mere excretion. 

f His appearance, together with the cause of it, would put some sense and 
feeling even into stones. 

X Lest by your appeal for pity you turn me away from the accomplishment 
of my stern resolve. 



Scene IV] 



HAMLET 



155 



That I have utter'd: bring me to the test, 140 

And I the matter will re-word; 1 which madness 
Would gambol 2 from. Mother, for love of grace, 
Lay not that nattering unction to your soul, 
That not your trespass but my madness speaks : 
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place, 
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within, 
Infects unseen. 3 Confess yourself to heaven: 
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;* 
And do not spread the compost 5 on the weeds, 
To make them ranker. 6 Forgive me this my 

virtue; 150 

For in the fatness of these pursy' 7 times 
Virtue itself of Vice must pardon beg, 
Yea, curb and woo, 8 for leave* to do him good. 

Queen. O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart 
in twain. 

Hamlet. 0, throw away the worser 10 part of it. 
And live the purer with the other half. 
Good night : 

Assume a virtue, if you have it not. 
That monster, Custom, who all sense doth eat, 
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this, 160 

That to the use of actions fair and good 
He likewise gives a frock, or livery, 
That aptly is put on. 

For use almost can change the stamp of nature, 
*And master the devil, or throw him out 
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night ; 
And when you are desirous to be blessed, 
I'll blessing beg of you. — For this same lord, 

[Pointing to Polonius. 
I do repent : but heaven hath pleased it so, 
fTo punish me with this, and this with me, 170 

That I must be their 11 scourge and minister. 12 
I will bestow 13 him, and will answer 1 * well 
The death I gave him. So, again, good night. 



l repeat in the 
same words 
2 skip away 



^corrupts or 

festers 
future sin 
^manure 
6 of stronger 

growth 

7 short-winded 

s bow and beg 
"permission 



"double com- 
parative 



n of heaven 
^servant 
13 stow away 
^account for 



* Either master the devil once for all, or beat back his attacks, 
t To punish me (Hamlet) by causing me to kill Polonius, and to punish 
him by making me the instrument of his death. 



156 



HAMLET 



[Act III 



I must be cruel, only to be kind: 

Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind. 

One word 1 more, good lady. 

Queen. What shall I do? 

Hamlet. Not this, by no means, that I bid 
you do : 
Let the bloat 2 king tempt you, 
Make you to ravel 3 all this matter out, 
That I essentially am not in madness, 180 

But mad in craft. 'Twere good,* you let him 

know: 
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise, 
Would from a paddock, 5 from a bat, a gib, 6 
Such dear concernings 7 hide? who would do so? 
No, in despite of sense and secrecy, 
Unpeg 8 the basket on the house's top, 
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape, 
To try conclusions, 9 in the basket creep, 
And break your own neck down. 

Queen. Be thou assured, if words be made 
of breath, 190 

And breath of life, I have no life to breathe 
What thou hast said to me. 

Hamlet. I must to 1 ° England ; you know that? 

Queen. Alack, 

I had forgot: 11 'tis so concluded on 12 

Hamlet. There's letters sealed: and my two 
school-fellows, — 
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd, — 
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my 

way, 
And marshal 13 me to knavery. Let it work; 
For 'tis the sport, 1 * to have the enginer 
Hoist with his own petard: 16 and 't shall go hard 200 
But I will delve 16 one yard below their mines, 
And blow them at 17 the moon : O, 'tis most sweet, 
*When in one line two crafts directly meet. 
Mother, good night. Indeed, this counsellor 



'dissy liable 

2 bloated 

^disentangle 

"well 

Hoad 

6 old tomcat 

7 concerns 

8 unfasten 
Hhe result 



'(go) to 



ll j 'or gotten 
12 decided 



13 lead 
^policy 
16 mortar 
u dig 
17 wp to 



* When two crafty persons meet in direct collision. 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



157 



Is now most still, most secret, and most grave, 
Who was in life a foolish prating 1 knave. 
Come, sir, to draw toward an end 2 with you. 
Good night, mother. 

[Exeunt severally, Hamlet dragging 
the body of Polonius. 

ACT IV 

Scene I. — The same. 
Enter King, Queen, Rosencrantz, and 

GUILDENSTERN. 

King. There's matter in these sighs, these 
profound heaves : 
You must translate: 3 'tis fit we understand them : 
Where is your son? 
Queen. [To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern] 
Bestow this place on us* a little while. 
[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 
Ah, my good lord, what have I seen to-night! 
King. What, Gertrude? How does Hamlet? 
Queen. Mad as the sea and wind, when both 
contend 
Which 6 is the mightier: in his lawless fit, 
Behind the arras 6 hearing something stir, 
Whips out his rapier, cries "A rat, a rat!" 
And, in his brainish apprehension, 1 kills 
The unseen good old man. 

King. O heavy 8 deed! 

It had been so with us, had we been there : 
His liberty 9 is full of threats 10 to all; 
To you yourself, to us, to every one. 
Alas, how shall this bloody deed be answer'd? 
It will be laid to us, whose providence 11 
Should have kept short, 1 * restrain'd, and out of 

haunt, 
This mad young man: but so much was our 
love, 



10 



Shattering 
Ho finish off 



a explain their 
meaning 

Heave us alone 



s as to which 
Hapestry 



7 imagmary 
fear 

^sorrowful 

9 being at large 
10 danger 



ll foresight 
^controlled 



158 



HAMLET 



We would not understand what was most fit; 20 
But, like the owner of a foul disease, 
To keep it from divulging, 1 let it feed 
Even on the pith of life. 2 Where is he gone? 

Queen. To draw apart 3 the body he hath 
kill'd: 
O'er whom his very madness, *like some ore 
Among a mineral of metals base, 
Shows itself pure; he weeps for what is done. 

King. O Gertrude, come away! 
The sun no sooner shall the mountains touch* 
But we will ship him hence: and this vile deed 30 
We must, with all our majesty and skill, 
Both countenance 5 and excuse. — Ho, Guilden- 
stern ! 

[Re-enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Friends both, go join you with some further aid: 5 

Hamlet in madness hath Polonius slain, 

And from his mother's closet hath he dragg'd 

him: 
Go seek him out; speak fair, 1 and bring the 

body 
Into the chapel. I pray you, haste in this. 

[Exeunt Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Come, Gertrude, we'll call up 8 our wisest friends ; 
And let them know, both what we mean to do, 
And what's untimely 9 done: so, haply, slander, 40 
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter, 
As level 10 as the cannon to his blank 11 
Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our 

name, 
And hit the woundless 12 air. — O, come away! 
My soul is full of discord and dismay. [Exeunt. 



[Act IV 



Revealing itself 
Hital parts 
3 put away 



4 i.e. at dawn 



^support 



^assistance 



''gently 



^summon 

^unfortunately 

10 direct 
11 its mark 

12 invulnerable 



Like a vein of precious metal in a mine (or mass of) common metals. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



159 



Scene II. — Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter Hamlet. 
Hamlet. Safely stowed. 1 

GuZ17ern\ [Within] Hamlet! Lord Hamlet! 
Hamlet. What noise? Who calls on Hamlet? 
01 here they come. 

[Enter Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

Rosencrantz. What have you done, my lord, 
with the dead body? 

Hamlet. Compounded 2 it with dust, whereto 
'tis kin. 

Rosencrantz. Tell us where 'tis : that we may 
take it thence, 
And bear it to the chapel. 

Hamlet. Do not believe it. 

Rosencrantz. Believe what? 10 

Hamlet. That I can keep your counsel, 3 and 
not mine own. Besides, to be demanded of* a 
sponge! — what replication 5 should be made by 
the son of a king? 

Rosencrantz. Take you me for a sponge, my 
lord? 

Hamlet. Ay, sir; that soaks up the king's 
countenance, 6 his rewards, his authorities.'' But 
such officers do the king best service in the end: 
he keeps them, like an ape doth nuts, in tne cor- 20 
ner of his jaw; first mouthed, to be last swal- 
lowed: when he needs what you have gleaned, it 
is but squeezing you, and, sponge, you shall be 
dry again. 

Rosencrantz. I understand you not, my lord. 

Hamlet. I am glad of it: a knavish speech 
sleeps in a foolish ear. 

Rosencrantz. My lord, you must tell us 
where the body is, and go with us to the king. 

Hamlet. The body is with the king, but the 30 
king is not with the body. The king is a thing — 



l i.e. away 



^mingled 



^secret 

^questioned by 
6 reply 



e favor 
^offices of 
authority 



160 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



Guildenstern. A thing, my lord! 
Hamlet. Of nothing: 1 bring me to him. Hide 
fox, and all after. [Exeunt. 

Scene III. — Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter King, attended. 

King. I have sent to seek him, 2 and to find 

the body. 
How dangerous is it, that this man goes loose! 3 
Yet must not we put the strong law on him : 
He's loved of the distracted i multitude, 
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; 
*And where 'tis so, the offender's scourge is 

weigh'd, 
But never the offence. To bear all smooth and 

even, 
This sudden sending him away must seem 
Deliberate pause. 5 fDiseases, desperate grown, 
By desperate appliance are relieved, 
Or not at all. 

Enter Rosencrantz. 

How now! what hath befall'n? 
Rosencrantz. Where the dead body is be- 
stow'd, 6 my lord, 
We cannot get from him. 

King. But where is he? 

Rosencrantz. Without, my lord; guarded, to 

know your pleasure. 
King. Bring him before us. 
Rosencrantz. Ho, Guildenstern! bring in my 
lord. 
Enter Hamlet and Guildenstern. 
King. Now, Hamlet, where's Polonius? 
Hamlet. At supper. 
King. At supper! Where? 



10 



^no value 



^Hamlet 



3 free, unre- 
strained 

i senseless 



5 a well-con- 
sidered plan 



6 stowed away 



* They notice the punishment awarded to the offender, but lose eight of 
the gravity of the offense. 

t Desperate diseases need desperate remedies. 



Scene III] 



HAMLET 



161 



Hamlet. Not where he eats, but where he is 20 
eaten: a certain convocation 1 of politic worms 
are e'en 2 at him. Your worm is your only em- 
peror for diet : we fat 3 all creatures else to fat us, 
and we fat ourselves for maggots : 4 your fat king, 
and your lean beggar, is but variable 5 service; 
two dishes, but to one table: that's the end.* 

King. Alas, alas! 

Hamlet. A man may fish with the worm that 
hath eat 7 of a king, and eat of the fish that hath 
fed of that worm. 30 

King. What dost thou mean by this? 

Hamlet. Nothing, but to show you how a 
king may go a progress through the guts of a 
beggar. 

King. Where is Polonius? 

Hamlet. In heaven; send thither to see: if 
your messenger find him not there, seek him i' 
the other place 8 yourself. But, indeed, if you 
find him not within this month, you shall nose 9 
him as you go up the stairs into the lobby. 40 

King. [To some Attendants.] Go seek him 
there. 

Hamlet. He will stay till you come. 

[Exeunt Attendants. 

King. Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial 
safety, — 
Which we do tender, 10 as we dearly 11 grieve 
For that which thou hast done, — must send thee 
hence 

With fiery quickness: 1 * therefore prepare thy- 
self; 
The bark is ready, and the wind at help, 13 
The associates tend, 14 and everything is bent 
For England. 

Hamlet. For England! 

King. Ay, Hamlet. 

Hamlet. Good. 50 

King. So is it, if thou knew'st our purposes. 



1 assembly 
2 just now 
^fatten 
4 i.e. to feed 

on us 
^various 
6 i.e. of us all 



7 eaten 



8 i.e. hell 
9 smell 



10 hold precious 
u heartily 

12 in hot haste 



^favorable 
^companions 
wait 



162 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



Hamlet. I see a cherub that sees them. But 
come; for England! Farewell, dear mother. 
King. Thy loving father, Hamlet. 
Hamlet. My. mother: father and mother is 
man and wife; man and wife is one flesh; and so 
my mother. Come, for England! [Exit. 

King. Follow him at foot; 1 tempt him with 
speed abroad; 
Delay it not; I'll have him hence to-night: 
Away! for everything is seal'd and done, 
That else leans 2 on the affair: pray you, make 
haste. 
[Exeunt Rosenceantz and Guildenstern. 

And, England, if my love thou hold'st at aught, 3 
(As my great power thereof may give thee sense, 
Since yet thy cicatrice^ looks raw and red 
After the Danish sword, and thy free 5 awe 
Pays homage to us,) thou mayst not coldly set 6 
Our sovereign process; 1 which imports at full, 
By letters congruing to that effect, 
The present 9 death of Hamlet. Do it, England; 
For like the hectic 9 in my blood he rages, 
And thou must cure me : till I know 'tis done, 
Howe'er my haps, 10 my joys were ne'er begun. 

[Exit. 

Scene IV. — A Plain in Denmark. 

Enter Fortinbras and forces, marching. 

Fortinbras. Go, captain, from me greet the 
Danish king; 
Tell him that, by his license, 11 Fortinbras 
Claims the conveyance 12 of a promised march 
Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous. 
*If that his majesty would aught with us, 
We shall express our duty in his eye; 13 
And let him know so. 



60 



70 



1 closely, at his 
heels 



2 depends 



3 of any value 

^scar of a 
wound 
^unforced 
^disregard 
^procedure 

^immediate 
9 fever 

10 whatever 
happens 



^permission 
12 conduct 



3 presence 



person. 



If the king desires to see me, I will go and pay my respects to him in 



Scene IV] HAMLET 

Captain. I will do't, my lord. 

Fortinbras. Go softly 1 on. 

[Exeunt Fortinbras and forces. 

Enter Hamlet, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, 
etc. 
Hamlet. Good sir, whose powers 2 are these? 
Captain. They are of Norway, 3 sir. 
Hamlet. How purposed, sir, 10 

I pray you? 
Captain. Against some part of Poland. 
Hamlet. Who 

Commands them, sir? 
Captain. The nephew to old Norway, Fortin- 
bras. 
Hamlet. Goes it against the main of Poland, 
sir, 
Or for some frontier? 
Captain. Truly to speak, and with no 
addition,* 
We go to gain a little patch of ground, 
That hath in it no profit but the name. 
*To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it ; 
Nor will it yield to Norway, 5 or the Pole, 5 20 

A ranker rate, 6 should it be sold in fee. 1 
Hamlet. Why, then the Polack* never will 

defend it. 
Captain. Yes, 'tis already garrisoned. 
Hamlet. Two thousand souls, and twenty 
thousand ducats, 
Will not debate 9 the question of this straw: 
This is the imposthume 10 of much wealth and 

peace, 
That inward breaks, and shows no cause without 
Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir. 
Captain. God be wi' you, sir. [Exit. 

Rosencrantz. Will't please you go, my lord? 



163 



hlowly 



2 forces 
Hhe king 



Exaggeration 



Hhe king 
^greater income 
''absolutely 
8 king of 
Poland 



^settle 
10 abscess 



* "I would not cultivate (farm) it on the condition of paying only five 
ducats rental" or "I would not pay five ducats for the right of collecting 
(farming) its revenues." 



164 



HAMLET 



Hamlet. I'll be with you straight. 1 Go a little 
before. [Exeunt all except Hamlet. 30 

How all occasions do inform against me, 
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man, 
*If his chief good and market of his time, 
Be but to sleep, and feed? a beast, no more. 
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse, 
Looking before and after, gave us not 
That capability and god-like reason 
To fust 2 in us unused. Now whether 3 it be 
Bestial oblivion, or some craven* scruple 
Of thinking too precisely on the event, 40 

A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part 

wisdom, 
And ever three parts coward, I do not know- 
Why yet I live to say, "This thing's to do 5 ;" 
Sith 6 1 have cause, and will, and strength, and 

means, 
To do 't. Examples, gross 7 as earth, exhort me : 
Witness this army, of such mass 8 and charge, 3 
Led by a delicate and tender prince; 
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puff'd, 10 
Makes mouths 11 at the invisible 12 event; 
Exposing what is mortal, and unsure, 13 50 

To all that fortune, death, and danger dare, 
Even for an egg-shell. 14 Rightly to be great 
Is not to stir without great argument, 15 
But greatly to find quarrel in a. straw 
When honour's at the stake. How stand I , then, 
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain' d, 16 
f Excitements of my reason and my blood, 11 
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see 
The imminent 13 death of twenty thousand men, 
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame, 19 60 

Go to their graves like beds; Jfight for a plot 20 



[Act IV 



Hrnmediately 



2 grow mouldy 
3 one syllable 
i cowardly 



5 be done 
6 since 

7 large, con- 
spicuous 

^numbers 

^expense 
10 inspired 
n mocks 
12 unforeseen 
13 insecure 

u a trifle 
Vo object of 
quarrel 

^dishonored 
17 passion 

^impending 
^imaginary 
point of 
honor 
20 of ground 



*His principal aim, and "that for which he sells his time" (Johnson); 
or "market" may mean 'the employment" of his time. 

f "Provocations which excite both my reason and passion to vengeance" 
(Johnson). 

t Contend about a plot of ground not large enough to hold the contestants 
whilst fighting, and not sufficiently capacious to contain the slain when buried. 



Scene Y\ 



HAMLET 



Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, 
Which is not tomb enough, and continent 1 
To hide the slain? O, 2 from this time forth, 
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth! 

[Exit. 

Scene V. — Elsinore. A Room in the Castle. 

Enter Queen and Hokatio. 

Queen. I will not speak with her. 
Horatio. She is importunate; indeed, dis- 
tract; 3 
Her mood will needs be pitied.* 
Queen. What would she have? 

Horatio. She speaks much of her father ; says 

she hears 
There's tricks i' the world; and hems, and beats 

her heart; 
Spurns 5 enviously 6 at straws; speaks things in 

doubt, 
That carry but half sense ; her speech is nothing, 
*Yet the unshaped use of it doth move 
The hearers to collection; 7 they aim* at it, 
And botch 9 the words up fit to their own thoughts ; 
Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures 

yield them, 
flndeed would make one think there might be 

thought, 
Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily. 
Queen. 'Twere good she were 10 spoken with, 

for she may strew 
Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds. 
Let her come in. — [Exit Horatio. 

To my sick soul, as sin's true nature is, 
Each toy 11 seems prologue 12 to some great amiss; 13 
So full of artless u jealousy 15 is guilt, 
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt. 



10 



20 



165 



Receptacle 
2 two syllables 



^distracted 
tcalls for pity 



b kicks 
^spitefully 



^inference 
s guess 
9 to bungle 



"scan as if one 
word 



"trifle 
l2 prelude 
1 ^disaster 
u ignorant 
15 suspicion 



* Listeners attempt to draw some inference from her 

t One cannot help thinking that she is brooding over 

quite sure about, which fills her with unhappy thoughts. 



disjointed speech, 
something she is not 



166 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



Re-enter Horatio, with Ophelia. 

Ophelia. Where is the beauteous majesty 1 of 

Denmark? 
Queen. How now, Ophelia! 
Ophelia. [Singing.] 

How should I your true love know 2 

From another one? 
By his cockle hat and staff, 
And his sandal shoon. 3 

Queen. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this 

song? 
Ophelia. Say you? 4 nay, pray you, mark. 

[Singing] He is dead and gone, lady, 
He is dead and gone; 
At his head a grass-green turf, 
At his heels a stone. 
Oh, oh! 
Queen. Nay, but, Ophelia, — 
Ophelia. Pray you, mark. 

[Singing.] White his shroud 5 as the mountain 
snow, — 

Enter King. 

Queen. Alas, look here, my lord. 
Ophelia. [Singing.] 

Larded 6 with sweet flowers ; 
Which bewept to the grave did go, 
With true-love showers. 
King. How do you, pretty lady? 
Ophelia. Well, God Held 7 you! They say the 
owl was a baker's daughter. Lord! we know what 
we are, but know not what we may be. God be 
at your table! 
King. Conceit 8 upon her father. 
Ophelia. Pray you, let's have no words of 
this; but when they ask you what it means, say 
you this: 



30 



40 



l queen 



distinguish 



3 shoes 



4 what is it you 
say? 



^winding sheet 



^dressed 



''yield (in its 
old sense 
"reward") 



Hhinking 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



167 



[Singing.] 

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, 1 

All in the morning betime, 2 
And I a maid at your window, 50 

To be your Valentine. 



King. How long hath she been thus? 
Ophelia. I hope all will be well. We must be 
patient : but I cannot choose but weep, 3 to think 
they should lay him i' the cold ground. My 
brother shall know of it; and so I thank you for 
your good counsel. — Come, my coachh Good 
night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies; good 
night, good night. [Exit. 60 

King. Follow her close; 5 give her good watch, 6 
I pray you. [Exit Horatio. 

O, this is 7 the poison of deep grief; it springs 
All from her father's death. O Gertrude, Ger- 
trude, 
*When sorrows come, they come not single spies, 
But in battalions. First, her father slain: 
Next, your son gone ; and he most violent author 
Of his own just remove: 3 the people muddied, 9 
Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and 

"whispers, 
For 10 good Polonius' death; and we have done 

but greenly, 11 
In hugger-mugger 12 to inter him: poor Ophelia 70 
Divided from herself and her fair judgment, 13 
Without the which we are pictures, or mere 

beasts : 
Last, and as much containing 1 * as all these, 
Her brother is in secret come from France; 
Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds, 15 
fAnd wants not buzzers 16 to infect his ear 



l Feb. 14 
2 early 



hefrain from 
weeping 

4 my carriage. 
see Note IV. 
v. 58 

5 closely 
6 watch her 

carefully 
7 scan as if one 

word 



^removal 
Unsettled 

10 ow account of 
n foolishly 
12 secretly 
13 reason 



u important 

u his purpose 

hidden 
^tale-bearers 



* Misfortunes never come singly. 

t And is not without whisperers who poison his ear with pestilent account 
of his father's death, and having no sure knowledge, they are driven to stick 
at nothing in accusing me of the murder to everybody. 



168 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



With pestilent speeches of his father's death; 
Wherein necessity, of matter beggar'd, 
Will nothing stick our person to arraign 1 
In ear and ear. 2 my dear Gertrude, this, 
Like to a murdering-piece, 3 in many places 
Gives me superfluous death.* [A noise within. 
Queen. • Alack, what noise is this? 

Enter a Gentleman. 

King. Where are my Switzers? 5 Let them 
guard the door. 
What is the matter? 

Gentleman. Save yourself, my lord: 

*The ocean, overpeering of his list, 6 
Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste 
Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, 7 
O'erbears your officers. 8 The rabble call him 

lord; 
And, as the world were now but to begin, 
Antiquity forgot, custom not known, 
The ratifiers and props of every word, 9 
They cry, "Choose we; Laertes shall be king!" 
Caps, hands, and tongues applaud it to the 

clouds, 
"Laertes shall be king, Laertes king!" 

Queen. How cheerfully on the false trail they 
cry! 
O, this is counter, 10 you false Danish dogs! 

King. The doors are broke. 11 [Noise within. 

Enter Laertes, armed; Danes following. 

Laertes. Where is this king? — Sirs, stand you 

all without. 
Danes. No, let's come in. 
Laertes. I pray you, give me leave 12 



80 



90 



Ho accuse me 

Ho everybody 
3 cannon 
i more deaths 
than one 



b Swiss. See 
Note, IV. v. 
83 



^rising over its 
boundary 

7 force of riotous 

citizens 
8 one syllable 



9 proposal 



10 false trail 
u broken in 



l2 i. e. to enter 
alone 



* The ocean swelling over its boundary eats away the flat country. 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



169 



Danes. We will, we will. 

[They retire without the door.] 
I thank you: — keep 1 the door. — 



Calmly, good Laertes. 



Laertes 

thou vile king, 
Give me my father! 

Queen. 

King. What is the cause, Laertes, 
That thy rebellion looks so giant-like? 
Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear 2 our person: 
There's such divinity doth hedge a king, 
*That treason can but peep to 3 what it would, 
Acts little of his* will. Tell me, Laertes, 
Why thou art thus incensed: let him go, Ger- 
trude ; 
Speak, man. 

Laertes. Where is my father? 

King. Dead. 

Queen. But not by him. 

King. Let him demand his fill. 

Laertes. How came he dead? 5 I'll not be 
juggled with! 
To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil! 
Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pitl 
I dare damnation: to this point I stand, — 
That both the worlds I give to negligence, 
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged 
Most throughly 6 for my father. 

King. Who shall stay you? 

Laertes. My will, not all the world: 
And, for my means, I'll husband them so well, 
They shall go far with little. 

King. Good Laertes, 

If you desire to know the certainty 
Of your dear father's death, is't writ 7 in your 

revenge, 
That, sweepstake, you will draw both friend and 

foe, 
Winner and loser? 



100 



110 



120 



l guard 



z fear for 



hn comparison 

with 
Hts 



Ho die 



^thoroughly 



''written 



t * Treason can do nothing more than peep in comparison with what it 
desires to do, and so compasses but little of its purpose. 



170 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



Laertes. None but his enemies. 

King. Will you know them, then? 

Laertes. To his good friends thus wide I'll 
ope 1 my arms; 
And, like the kind life-rendering 2 pelican, 
Repast 3 them with my blood. 

King. Why, now you speak 130 

Like a good child, 4 and a true gentleman. 
That I am guiltless of your father's death, 
And am most sensibly 5 in grief for it, 
It shall as level 6 to your judgment pierce, 
As day does to your eye. 

Danes. [Within] Let her come in. 

Laertes. How now! what noise is that? 

Re-enter Ophelia. 

O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt, 
Burn out the sense 7 and virtue 8 of mine eye! 
By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight, 
Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May! 140 
Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia! — ■ 
O heavens! is't possible, a young maid's wits 
Should be as mortal as an old man's life? 
Nature is ./me 9 in love; and, where 'tis fine, 
It sends some precious instance 10 of itself 
After the thing it loves. 

Ophelia. [Singing.] 

They bore him barefaced 11 on the bier; 
Hey non nonny, nonny, hey nonny: 
And in his grave rain'd many a tear, — 
Fare you well, my dove! 12 150 

Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst per- 
suade 13 revenge, 
It could not move thus. 14 

Ophelia. You must sing a-down a-down and 
you call him a-down-a. O, how the wheel be- 
comes it! It is the false steward, that stole his 
master's daughter. 

Laertes. This nothing's more than matter 15 



x open 

2 giving up her 
own life. See 
Note, IV. v. 
129 

s feed 

^dutiful son 

^feelingly 

^directly 



7 feeling 
3 power (of 
sight) 



9 pure, refined 
10 sample 



lx face uncovered 



12 i.e. Laertes 

13 urge me on to 
14 (me) as 
strongly 



15 words only, 
no sense 



Scene V] 



HAMLET 



171 



Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remem- 
brance; pray, love, remember: and there is 
pansies; that's for thoughts. 160 

Laertes. A document 1 in madness — thoughts 
and remembrance fitted. 

Ophelia. There's fennel for you, 2 and colum- 
bines: — there's rue for you; 3 and here's some for 
me: we may call it herb of grace o' Sundays: — ■ 
O, you* may wear your rue with a difference. — 
There's a daisy: — I would give you some violets, 
but they withered all when my father died: — 
they say he made a good end, — 
[Singing.] 

For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy. 170 

Laertes. Thought 5 and affliction, passion, 6 
hell itself, 
She turns to favour, 7 and to prettiness. 
Ophelia. [Singing.] 

And will he not come again? 
And will he not come again? 
No, no, he is dead: 
Go to thy death-bed: 
He never will come again. 

His beard was as white as snow, 
All flaxen was his poll. s 

He is gone, he is gone, 180 

And we cast away moan: 3 
God ha' 10 mercy on his soul! 
And of all Christian souls! I pray God. — God 
bem' u you! [Exit. 

Laertes. Do you see this, O God? 
King. Laertes, I must commune with 12 your 
grief, 
Or you deny me 13 right. 1 * Go but apart, 
Make choice *of whom your wisest friends you 

will, 
And they shall hear and judge 'twixt you and me : 



Hesson 

Hhe king 
Hhe queen 

Hhe queen 



^anxiety 
^suffering 

''grace 



8 head 

s waste our 
moans 

10 have 

n with 

12 share in 

13 me (dative) 
u my right 



Of your wisest friends whom you will. 



172 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



*If by direct or by collateral hand 1 

They find us touch'd, 2 we will our kingdom give, 190 

Our crown, our life, and all that we call ours, 

To you in satisfaction; but if not, 

Be you content to lend your patience to us, 

And we shall jointly labour with your soul 

To give it due content. 

Laertes. Let this be so; 

His means 3 of death, his obscure funeral, 
No trophy, sword, nor hatchment* o'er his bones, 
No noble rite, nor formal ostentation, 5 
Cry to be heard, as 'twere from heaven to earth, 
That I must calVt in question* 

King. So you shall; 200 

fAnd, where the offence is, let the great axe fall. 
I pray you go with me. [Exeunt. 

Scene VI. — Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter Horatio and a Servant. 

Horatio. What 7 are they that would speak 
with me? 

Servant. Sailors, sir: they say they have 
letters for you. 

Horatio. Let them come in. [Exit Servant. 
I do not know from what part of the world 
I should be greeted, 8 if not from Lord Hamlet. 

Enter Sailors. 

1st Sailor. God bless you, sir. 

Horatio. Let Him bless thee, too. 

1st Sailor. He shall, sir, an'P please Him. 
There's a letter for you, sir; it comes from the 
ambassador that was bound for England; if 10 
your name be Horatio, as I am let to know 10 it is. 



Hndirectly 
^implicated 



Hhe means of 
Escutcheon 
^outward show 

^demand an 
inquiry 



''what manner 
of men 



8 saluted with 
greetings 



Hfit 
^informed 



* If they find me implicated (touched) in the murder, either having com- 
mitted it myself (directly), or by employing assassins (collaterally). 
f Let the axe of the executioner fall on the offender. 



Scene VI] 



HAMLET 



Horatio. [Reads.] " Horatio, when thou shalt 
have overlooked 1 this, give these fellows some 
means* to the king: they have letters for him. 
Ere we were two days old at sea, a pirate of very 
warlike appointment 3 gave us chase. Finding 
ourselves too slow of sail, we put on a compelled* 
valour: in the grapple I boarded them; on the 
instant they got clear of our ship; so I alone be- 
came their prisoner. They have dealt with me 
like thieves of mercy: 5 but they knew what they 
did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the 
king have the letters I have sent; and repair 
thou to me with as much haste as thou wouldst 
fly death. I have words to speak in thine ear 
will 6 make thee dumb; yet are they, *much too 
light for the bore of the matter. These good fel- 
lows will bring thee where I am. Rosencrantz 
and Guildenstern hold their course for England: 
of them I have much to tell thee. Farewell. 

"He that thou knowest thine, Hamlet." 
Come, I will give you 7 way for these your letters ; 
And do't the speedier, 8 that you may direct me 
To him from whom you brought them. [Exeunt. 

Scene VII. — Another Room in the Castle. 
Enter King and Laertes. 

King. Now must your conscience my ac- 
quittance 9 seal, 
And you must put me in your heart for friend, 
Sith 10 you have heard, and with a knowing ear, 
That he which hath your noble father slain 
Pursued my life. 

Laertes. It well 11 appears: — but tell me 

Why you proceeded not against these feats 12 
fSo crimeful 13 and so capital in nature, 
As by your safety, wisdom, all things else, 
You mainly were stirr'd up. 



20 



30 



173 



Hooked over, 

i.e. read 
2 means (of 

access) 
Equipment 
Hn desperation 



^merciful 



5 (which) will 



7 dative 
8 more speedily 



^acquittal 
10 since 



n plainly 

12 deeds 

^criminal 



* Inadequate to express the importance of the matter. 

t In their nature so criminal and deserving the punishment of death. 



174 



HAMLET 



King. O, for two special reasons; 

Which may to you, perhaps, seem much un- 

sinew'd, 1 10 

But yet to me they are strong. The queen, his 

mother, 
Lives almost by his looks; 2 and for myself. 
My virtue, or my plague, be it either which, 
She's so conjunctive 3 to my life and soul, 
That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,* 
I could not but by her. The other motive, 
Why to a public count 5 1 might not go, 
Is the great love the general gender 6 bear him; 
Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, 
Would, like the spring that turneth wood to 

stone, 20 

Convert his gyves 7 to graces; so that my arrows,* 
Too slightly timbered for so loud a wind, 
Would have reverted 9 to my bow again, 
And not where I had aimed them. 10 

Laertes. And so have I a noble father lost; 
A sister driven into desperate terms; 
Whose worth, *if praises may go back again, 
Stood challenger on mount of all the age 
For her perfections: but my revenge will come. 
King. Break not your sleeps for that: you 
must not think 30 

That we are made of stuff so flat and dull, 
tThat we can let our beard be shook 11 with dan- 
ger, 
And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear 

more: 
I loved your father, and we love ourself ; 
And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine 

Enter a Messenger. 

How now! what news? 

Messenger. Letters, my lord, from Hamlet : 
This to your majesty; this to the queen. 



[Act IV 



^^strengthless 



2 on the sight of 
him 

s closely joined 
*orbit 

^account, trial 
^common 
people 



7 fetters 

8 i. e. schemes 
(against 
Hamlet) 

Hurned back 
10 gone to the 
mark 



11 shaken 



* If I may praise her as she was before her madness. 
t Danger being so near as to come into our very face. 



Scene VIII 



HAMLET 



175 



King. From Hamlet! who brought them? 

Messenger. Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw 
them not: 
They were given me by Claudio; he received 

them 40 

Of 1 him that brought them. 

King. Laertes, you shall hear them. 

Leave us. [Exit Messenger. 

[Reads] ' High and mighty, you shall know I 
am set naked 2 on your kingdom. To-morrow shall 
I beg leave to see your kingly eyes : when I shall, 
first asking your pardon thereunto, recount the 
occasion of my sudden and more strange return. 

"Hamlet." 
What should 3 this mean? Are all the rest come 

back, 
Or is it some abuse,* and no such thing? 

Laertes. Know you the hand? 

King. 'Tis Hamlet's character: 5 — 

"naked,"— 50 

And, in a postscript here, he says, "alone." 
Can you advise me? 

Laertes. I'm lost 6 in it, my lord. But let him 
come; 
It warms the very sickness in my heart, 
That 1 1 shall live and tell him to his teeth, 
"Thus didest thou." 

King. *If it be so, Laertes, 

As 8 how should it be so? how otherwise? 
Will you be ruled 9 by me? 

Laertes. Ay, my lord; 

So you will not o'errule me to a peace. 

King. To thine own peace. If he be now 
return'd, 60 

As checking at his voyage, and that he means 
No more to undertake it, I will work him 
To an exploit, now ripe 10 in my device, 11 



l from 
2 alone 

z can possibly 

Hrick 

^handwriting 

^perplexed 



Ho think 
that 

8 for indeed 
^guided 



10 matured 
u scheme 



* If he be really returned; but how can he be? and yet to judge from 
this letter he must have come back. 



176 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



Under the which he shall not choose but 1 fall : 
And for his death no wind of blame 2 shall breathe; 
But even his mother shall uncharge 3 the prac- 
tice, i 
And call it accident. 

Laertes. My lord, I will be ruled; 

The rather, if you could devise it so, 
That I might be the organ. 6 

King. It falls right* 

You have been talk'd of since your travel much, 70 
And that in Hamlet's hearing, for a quality'' 
Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts 
Did not together pluck such envy from him, 
As did that one; and that, in my regard, 9 
Of the unworthiest siege. 9 

Laertes. What part is that, my lord? 

King. A very riband in the cap of youth, 
Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes 
The light and careless livery 10 that it wears, 
Than settled age his sables and his weeds, 11 
Importing 12 health and graveness. — Two months 

since 
Here was a gentleman of Normandy: 
I've seen myself, and served against, the French, 
And they can well on horseback ; but this gallant 
Had witchcraft in't; he grew unto his seat; 
And to such wondrous doing brought his horse, 
As he had been incorpsed 13 and demi-natured 
With the brave beast: *so far he topp'd 1 * my 

thought, 
That I, in forgery 15 of shapes and tricks, 
Come short of what he did. 

Laertes. A Norman was 't? 

King. A Norman. 

Laertes. Upon my life, Lamond. 

King. The very same. 



80 



Cannot help 
falling 

2 breath of 
scandal 

3 bring no 
charge of 

Hrickery 

Hnstrument, 

means 
^exactly 

''accomplish- 
ment 



^opinion 
9 seat or rank 



10 dress 
u robes 
12 denoting 



incorporate 
^surpassed 

^imagination 



* So far did he exceed my imagination that I, in conceiving all possible 
shapes and maneuvers, etc. 



Scene VII] 



HAMLET 



177 



Laertes. I know him well : *he is the brooch, 
indeed, 
And gem of all the nation. 

King. He made confession of you; 
And gave you such a masterly report 
For art and exercise in your defence, 
And for your rapier most especial, 
That he cried out, 'twould be a sight indeed 
If one could match you: the scrimers 1 of their 

nation, 
He swore, had neither motion, 2 guard, nor eye 
If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his 
fDid Hamlet so envenom with his envy, 3 
That he could nothing do but wish and beg 
Your sudden coming o'er, to play with him. 
Now, out of this 

Laertes. What out of this, my lord? 

King. Laertes, was your father dear to you? 
Or are you like the painting of a sorrow, 
A face without a heart? 

Laertes. Why ask you this? 

King. Not that I think you did not love your 
father; 
But thatf I know love is begun by time; 
And that I see, in passages of proof, 
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it. 
There lives within the very flame of love 
A kind of wick, or snuff, that will abate it; 
And nothing is at a like goodness still;* 
For goodness, growing to a plurisy, 5 
Dies in his own too-much: that we would do, 
We should 6 do when we would; 7 °for this 
"would" 7 changes, 



100 



110 



fencers 
Hhrust 



3 jealousy of 
him 



*always 
^redundancy 

of blood 
a ought to 

(should) 
7 desire (would) 



* The brightest ornament and most precious person in all the nation. 

t Impregnate Hamlet with jealousy of his skill. 

1 1 know that love commences at a precise moment of time, and I observe 
by passages of experience that it dies out in course of time. 

° Our will is apt, for many reasons, to postpone performance of action 
and then the duty remains neglected and undone, and we become like spend- 
thrifts, vainly sighing for the estate we have squandered. 



178 



HAMLET 



[Act IV 



And hath abatements and delays as many, 

As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents; 120 

And then this "should" is like *a spendthrift 

sigh, 
That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o' the 

ulcer: 1 — 
Hamlet comes back : what would you undertake, 
To show yourself your father's son in deed 
More than in words? 
Laertes. To cut his throat i ' the church . 

King. No place, indeed, should murder 

sanctuarize; 2 
Revenge should have no bounds. But, good 

Laertes, 
fWill you do this, keep close within your 

chamber? 
Hamlet, return'd, shall know you are come 

home: 

We'll put 3 on those* shall praise your excellence, 130 
And set a double varnish on the fame 
The Frenchman gave you; bring you, in fine, 5 

together, 
And wager on your heads : he, being remiss, 6 
JMost generous, 7 and free from all contriving, 
Will not peruse 3 the foils; so that, with ease, 
Or with a little shuffling, you may choose 
A sword unbated, 9 and, in a pass of practice, 10 
Requite him for your father. 

Laertes. I will do 't: 

And, for that purpose, I'll anoint my sword. 
I bought an unction 11 of a mountebank 12 140 

So mortal, 13 that but dip a knife in it, 
Where it draws blood no cataplasm 1 * so rare, 
Collected from all ° simples 15 that have virtue 
Under the moon, can save the thing from death 
That is but scratch'd withal; I'll touch my point 



^oot of the 
matter 



2 protect 



Hnstigate 
Hhose (who) 

Hn short 



^careless 

''noble-hearted 

^examine 

closely 
9 unblunted, i.e. 

without a 

button 
^treacherous 
thrust 

lx a salve 
12 quack 
lz deadly 
u plaster 
^medicinal 
herbs 



* An unnecessary sigh that wastes the strength. 

t If you are determined to do this. 

% Most noble-hearted and absolutely straightforward. 

° Plants that have magic virtues when gathered by moonlight. 



Scene VII] 



HAMLET 



179 



With this contagion, 1 that, if I gall 2 him slightly, 
It may be death. 

King. Let's further think of this : 

Weigh what convenience, both of time and 

means, 
*May fit us to our shape: if this should fail, 
And that our drift 3 look* through our bad per- 
formance, 150 
'Twere better not assay' d; 5 therefore this project 
Should have a back, 6 or second, that might hold, 
If this should blast 7 in proof. a Soft ! — let me see : 
We'll make a solemn wager on your cunnings: 9 
Iha'fc 

When in your motion you are hot and dry 10 
As 11 make your bouts more violent to that end, 
And that he calls for drink, I'll have prepared 

him 
A chalice for the nonce, 12 whereon but sipping, 
If he by chance escape your venom'd stuck 13 160 
Our purpose may hold there. 

Enter Queen. 

How now, sweet queen! 
Queen. One woe doth tread upon another's 
heel, 
So fast they follow: your sister's drown'd, 
Laertes. 
Laertes. Drown'd! 0, where? 
Queen. There is a willow grows aslant 14 a 
brook, 
That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream ; 
There with fantastic garlands did she come 
Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long 

purples, 15 
That liberal 16 shepherds give a grosser name, 
But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call 

them: 170 



poison 
2 scratch 



Hntention 
Appear 

Attempted 

^backer 

7 burst 

Hesting 

'skill 



10 thirsty 



^occasion 
13 thrust in 
fencing 



u leaning over 



u purple orchid 
ie freer spoken 



* "Enable us to act our proposed part." 



180 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds 
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke; 
When down her weedy trophies, and herself, 
Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread 

wide, 
And, mermaid-like, a while they bore her up: 
Which 1 time, she chanted snatches of old tunes; 
As one incapable 2 of her own distress, 
*Or like a creature native and indued 
Unto that element: but long it could not be, 
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, 
PulFd the poor wretch from her melodious lay 
To muddy death. 

Laertes. Alas, then she is drown'd? 

Queen. Drown'd, drown'd. 

Laertes. Too much of water hast thou, poor 
Ophelia, 
And therefore I forbid my tears : but yet 
It is our trick; 3 nature her custom holds, 
Let shame say what it will : fwhen these are gone, 
The woman will be out. — Adieu, my lord: 
I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze, 
But that this folly douts it.* [Exit. 

King. Let's follow, Gertrude. 

How much I had to do to calm his rage! 
Now fear I this will give it start 6 again; 
Therefore, let's follow. [Exeunt. 

ACT V. 

Scene I. — A Churchyard. 
Enter two Clowns, with spades, etc. 

1st Clown. Is she to be buried in Christian 
burial, that wilfully seeks her own salvation? 6 

2nd Clown. I tell thee, she is; and therefore 
make her grave straight: 7 the crowner 3 hath sat 
on her, and finds it Christian burial. 



180 



190 



during which 
2 unable to feel 
(three sylla- 
bles) 



particular 
habit 



*puts it out, 
extinguishes 



6 set it in motion 



6 he means 
destruction 

7 immediately 
s coroner 



* "Connected by nature with and endowed with qualities enabling her 
to live in water." 

f When I have ceased weeping I will put away this womanish way. 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



181 



1st Clown. How can that be, unless she 
drowned herself in her own defence? 

2nd Clown. Why, 'tis found so. 

1st Clown. It must be se offendendo; it can- 
not be else. For here lies the point : if I drown 10 
myself wittingly, it argues an act: and an act 
hath three branches; it is to act, to do, and to 
perform: argal, 1 she drowned herself wittingly. 

2nd Clown. Nay, but hear you, goodman 
delver. 2 

1st Clown. Give me leave. Here lies the 
water; good: here stands the man; good: if the v 
man go to this water, and drown himself, it is, 
will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that? but if 
the water come to him, and drown him, he 20 
drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty 
of his own death shortens not his own life. 

2nd Clown. But is this law? 

1st Clown. Ay, marry, is't; crowner's quest 3 
law. 

2nd Clown. Will you ha' the truth on 't? If 
this had not been a gentlewoman, she should 
have been buried out of Christian burial. 

1st Clown. Why, there thou say'st;* and the 
more pity, that great folk should have counte- 30 
nance 5 in this world to drown or hang them- 
selves, more than their even 6 Christian. — Come, 
my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but 
gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers: they 
hold up Adam's profession. 

2nd Clown. Was he a gentleman? 

1st Clown. He was the first that ever bore 
arms. 7 

2nd Clown . Why, he had none. 

1st Clown. What, art a heathen? How dost 40 
thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture 
says, Adam digged: could he dig without arms? 8 
I'll put another question to thee: if thou an- 
swerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself — 

2nd Clown. Go to. 



l ergo, 

consequently 

Higger 



Hnquest 



Ho the point 

^approval 
fellow 



''armorial 
bearings 



8 a play on 
words 



182 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



1st Clown. What is he that builds stronger 
than either the mason, the shipwright, or the 
carpenter? 

2nd Clown. The gallows-maker; for that 
frame outlives a thousand tenants. 1 50 

1st Clown. I like thy wit well, in good faith: 
the gallows does well ; but how does it well? it 
does well to those that do ill : now, thou dost ill 
to say the gallows is built stronger than the 
church: argal, 2 the gallows may do well to thee. 
To't again, come. 

2nd Clown. Who builds stronger than a 
mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter? 

1st Clown. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. 

2nd Clown. Marry, now I can tell. 60 

1st Clown. To't. 

2nd Clown. Mass, 3 1 cannot tell. 

Enter Hamlet and Horatio at a distance. 

1st Clown. Cudgel thy brains no more about 
it, for your dull ass will not mend his pace with 
beating; and, when you are asked this question 
next, say "a grave-maker:" the houses that he 
makes last till doomsday. Go, get thee to 
Yaughan;* fetch me a stoop 5 of liquor. 

[Exit 2nd Clown. 
[He digs and sings. [ 
In youth, when I did love, did love, 

Methought it was very sweet, 70 

To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove, 
O, methought, there was nothing meet. 6 
Hamlet. Has this fellow no feeling of his 
business, that he sings at grave-making? 

Horatio. *Custom hath made it in him a 
property of easiness. 

Hamlet. 'Tis e'en so: the hand of little em- 
ployment hath the daintier 7 sense, 



1 occupants 



"^therefore 



3 by the mass 



4 may be a cor- 
ruption of 
Johan 

Hankard 



^suitable 



''more delicate 



* Custom has made it an easy duty for Him: one unhardened by habit 
would feel it more keenly. 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



183 



1st Clown. [Sings] 
But age, with his stealing steps, 

Hath claw'd me in his clutch, 80, 

And hath shipped me intill 1 the land, 
As if I had never been such. 

[Throws up a skull. 
Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and 
could sing once : how the knave jowls 2 it to the 
ground, as if it were Cain's jaw-bone, that did 
the first murder! It might be the pate of a poli- 
tician, 3 which this ass now o'er-reaches; one 
that would 4 circumvent God, might it not? 
Horatio. It might, my lord. 
Hamlet. Or of a courtier; which could say, 90 
"Good-morrow, sweet lord! How dost thou, 
good lord?" This might be my lord such-a-one, 
that praised my lord such-a-one's horse, when he 
meant to beg it; might it not? 
Horatio. Ay, my lord. 
Hamlet. Why, e'en so; and now my Lady 
Worm's; chapless, 6 and knocked about the 
mazard 6 with a sexton's spade: here's fine 
revolution, 7 an ' we had the trick 6 to see't. Did 
these bones cost no more the 9 breeding, but to 100 
play at loggats with them? mine ache to think 
on't. 
1st Clown. [Sings.] 
A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade, 

For and 10 a shrouding sheet: 
O, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet. 

[Throws up another skull. 
Hamlet. There's another: why may not that 
be the skull of a lawyer? Where be his quiddits 11 
now, his quillets, 12 his cases, his tenures, and his 
tricks? why does he suffer this rude knave now 110 
to knock him about the sconce 13 with a dirty 
shovel, and will not tell him of his action of 
battery? 1 * Hum ! This fellow might be in 's time 



Hnto 



2 knocks 



3 schemer 
*would like to 



^without a jaw 
6 head 

''wonderful 
change 
8 skill 
9 (in) the 



10 and also 



11 equivocations 
12 nice points 

13 head 
u for assault 



184 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his re- 
cognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his 
recoveries : is this the fine 1 of his fines, and the 
recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate 
full of fine dirt? Will his vouchers vouch him no 
more of his purchases, and double ones too, than 
the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? 120 
The very conveyances of his lands will hardly 
lie in this box; and must the inheritor 2 himself 
have no more, ha? 
Horatio. Not a jot more, my lord. 

Is not parchment made of sheep- 



Hamlet. 
skins? 
Horatio 
Hamlet. 



Ay, my lord, and of calf-skins too. 
They are sheep, and calves, which 
seek out assurance in that. I will speak to this 
fellow. Whose grave's this, sir? 130 

1st Clown. Mine, sir. 

[*Singfs.j O, a pit of clay for to be made 
For such a guest is meet. 

Hamlet. I think it be thine, indeed; for thou 
liest in't. 

1st Clown. You lie out on't, 3 sir, and there- 
fore it is not yours : for my part, I do not lie in 't, 
and yet it is mine. 

Hamlet. Thou dost lie in't, to be in't, and 
say it is thine: 'tis for the dead, not for the 140 
quick;* therefore thou liest. 

1st Clown. 'Tis a quick 5 lie, sir; 'twill away 
again, from me to you. 

Hamlet. What man dost thou dig it for? 

1st Clown. For no man, sir. 

Hamlet. What woman, then? 

1st Clown. For none, neither. 

Hamlet. Who is to be buried in't? 

1st Clown. One that was a woman, sir; but, 
rest her soul, she's dead. 150 

Hamlet. How absolute 6 the knave is! we 
must speak by the card, 7 or equivocation 8 will 
undo us. By the Lord, Horatio, these three 



hnd 



possessor 



3 ofit 



Hiving 
Hively 



^-particular 
"'carefully 
^double mean- 
ing 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



years I have taken note of it; the age is grown 
so picked, 1 that the toe of the peasant comes so 
near the heel of the courtier, he galls 2 his kibe. 3 
— How long hast thou been a grave-maker? 

1st Clown. Of all the days i' the year, I came 
to't that day that our last king Hamlet over- 
came Fortinbras. 160 

Hamlet. How long is that since? 

1st Clown. Cannot you tell that? every fool 
can tell that: it was the very day that young 
Hamlet was born; he that is mad, and sent into 
England. 

Hamlet. Ay, marry, why was he sent into 
England? 

1st Clown. Why, because he was mad: he 
shall recover his wits there; or, if he do not, it's 
no great matter there. 170 

Hamlet. Why? 

1st Clown. 'Twill not be seen in him there; 
there the men are as mad as he. 

Hamlet. How came he mad? 

1st Clown. Very strangely, they say. 

Hamlet. How strangely? 

1st Clown. 'Faith, e'en with losing his wits. 

Hamlet. Upon what ground? i 

1st Clown. Why, here in Denmark: I have 
been sexton here, man and boy, thirty years. 180 

Hamlet. How long will a man lie i' the earth 
ere he rot? 

1st Clown. Faith, if he be not rotten before 
he die, he will last you some eight year, or nine 
year : a tanner will last you nine year. 

Hamlet. Why he more than another? 

1st Clown. Why, sir, his hide is so tanned 
with his trade, that he will keep out water a 
great while; and your water is a sore decayer of 
your dead body. Here's a skull now; this skull 190 
has lain in the earth three and twenty years. 

Hamlet. Whose was it? 



185 



1 precise, 

particular 
hubs 
3 chap, or sore 

on the heel 



*for what 
cause 



186 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



1st Clown. A mad fellow's it was: whose do 
you think it was? 

Hamlet. Nay, I know not. 

1st Clown. A pestilence on him for a mad 
rogue! 'a 1 poured a flagon of Rhenish 2 on my 
head once. This same skull, sir, was Yorick's 3 
skull, the king's jester. 

Hamlet. This? 200 

1st Clown. E'en that. 

Hamlet. Let me see. — [Takes the skull.] — 
Alas, poor Yorick! — I knew him, Horatio: a 
fellow of infinite jest,* of most excellent fancy : he 
hath borne me on his back a thousand times; 
and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! 
my gorge 5 rises at it. Here hung those lips, that 
I have kissed I know not how oft. Where be 
your gibes 6 now? your gambols? your songs? 
your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set 210 
the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your 
own grinning? quite chap-fallen? 1 Now get you 
to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint 
an inch thick, to this favour 8 she must come; 
make her laugh at that.— Pr'ythee, Horatio, tell 
me one thing. 

Horatio. What's that, my lord? 

Hamlet. Dost thou think Alexander 9 looked 
o' this fashion i' the earth? 10 

Horatio. E'en so. 220 

Hamlet. And smelt so? pah! 

[Puts down the skull. 

Horatio. E'en so, my lord. 

Hamlet. To what base uses we may return, 
Horatio! Why may not imagination trace the 
noble dust of Alexander, till he find it stopping 
a bung-hole? 

Horatio. 'Twere to consider too curiously, to 
consider so. 

Hamlet. No, faith, not a jot; but to follow 
him thither with modesty enough, 11 and likelihood 230 
to lead it; as thus: Alexander died, Alexander 



^Rhenish wine 
^George's 



Hnexhaustible 
wit 

Hhroat, i.e. / 
feel sick 

e clever sarcasm 



''quite fallen 
away 

8 appearance 



9 Alexander the 

Great 
10 when buried 



^without exag- 
geration 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



187 



was buried, Alexander returneth into dust; the 
dust is earth; of earth we make loam; and why 
of that loam whereto he was converted, might 
they not stop a beer-barrel? 

Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay, 
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away: 
O, that that earth, which kept the world in 

awe, 
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's 
flaw! 1 
But soft! but soft! aside: — here comes the king. 240 

Enter Priests, etc., in procession: the corpse 

of Ofhelia, Laertes and Mourners 

following; King, Queen, their trains, 

etc. 

The queen, the courtiers: who is that they 

follow? 2 
And with such maimed 3 rites? This doth 

betoken 
The corse they follow did with desperate hand 
Fordo* its own life: 'twas of some estate. 5 
Couch 6 we awhile, and mark. 

[Retiring with Horatio. 
Laertes. What ceremony else? 
Hamlet. That is Laertes, a very noble youth : 
mark. 
Laertes. What ceremony else? 
1st Priest. Her obsequies 7 have been as far 
enlarged 
As we have warranty: 6 her death was doubtful; 250 
And, *but that great command o'ersways the 

order, 
She should 9 in ground unsanctified 10 have lodged, 
Till the last trumpet; for 11 charitable prayers, 
Shards, 12 flints, and pebbles should be thrown on 
her: 



^ust of wind 



2 (to the grave) 
defective 



^undo, destroy 
b rank 

Hie down and 
hide 



''funeral rites 
permission 



9 ought to 
10 unconsecrated 
n in the place 

of 
12 potsherds 



* Were it not that the express command of the king overrides the decree 
(or canon) of the Church. 



188 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



Yet here she is allow'd her virgin crants, 1 

Her maiden strewments, and the bringing home 

Of bell and burial. 

Laertes. Must there no more be done? 

1st Priest. No more be done: 

We should profane the service of the dead, 
To sing a requiem, 2 and such rest to her 260 

As to peace-parted 3 souls. 

Laertes. Lay her i' the earth; 

And from her fair and unpolluted flesh 
May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest, 
A ministering angel shall my sister be, 
When thou liest howling.* 

Hamlet. What, the fair Ophelia! 

Queen. Sweets to the sweet: farewell! 

[Scattering flowers. 
I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet's 

wife; 
I thought* thy bride-bed to have deck'd, sweet 

maid, 
And not have strew'd thy grave. 

Laertes. O, treble woe 

Fall ten times treble on that cursed head, 270 

Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense 5 
Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile, 
Till I have caught her once more in mine arms: 

[Leaping into the grave. 
Now pile your dust upon the quick 7 and dead, 
Till of this^ai 8 a mountain you have made, 
To o'er-top old Pelion, or the skyish head 
Of blue Olympus. 

Hamlet. [Advancing] What 9 is he, whose 
grief 
Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow 
Conjures 10 the wandering stars, 11 and makes them 

stand, 12 
Like wonder^wounded 13 hearers? This is I, 280 

Hamlet the Dane. [Leaping into the grave. 

Laertes. The devil take thy soul! 

[Grappling with him. 



1 garlands 



2 hymn of peace 
3 departed in 
peace 



" 4 i. e.for mercy 



s fondly ex~ 
pected 



^intellect 



Hiving 
Hevel surface 



h.e. manner 
of man 



10 invokes 
n planets 
12 i.e. still 
13 struck with 
wonder 



Scene I] 



HAMLET 



189 



Hamlet. Thou pray'st not well. 
I pr'ythee, take thy fingers from my throat; 
For though I am not splenetive 1 and rash, 
Yet have I something in me dangerous, 
Which let thy wisdom fear: hold off thy hand. 

King. Pluck them asunder. 

Queen. Hamlet, Hamlet! 

All. Gentlemen, — 

Horatio. Good, my lord, be quiet. 

[The Attendants part them, and they come 
out of the grave. 

Hamlet. Why, I will fight with him upon this 
theme 2 
Until my eyelids will no longer wag.* 

Queen. O my son, what theme? 

Hamlet. I loved Ophelia: forty thousand 
brothers 
Could not, with all their quantity of love, 
Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her? 

King. O, he is mad, Laertes. 

Queen. For* love of God, forbear him. 

Hamlet. 'Swounds , 5 show me what thou 'It do : 
Woo 'P weep? woo 't fight? woo 't fast? woo 't tear 

thyself? 
Woo't drink up Esil? eat a crocodile? 
I'll do't. Dost thou come here to whine? 
To out-face 1 me with leaping in her grave? 
Be buried quick 8 with her, and so will I : 
And, if thou prate* of mountains, let them throw 
Millions of acres on us; *till our ground, 
Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 
Make Ossa like 10 a wart! Nay, and 11 thou'lt 

mouth, 
I'll rant as well as thou. 

Queen.''" This is mere 12 madness: 

And thus awhile the fit will work on him ; 
Anon 1 * as patient as the female dove, 



290 



300 



^■easily angered 



2 subject 
3 move 



*for (the) 
5 by God's 
wounds 
s wouldst (thou) 



''browbeat 

s alive 

hant 



10 no bigger than 

12 absolute 
l3 soon 



* Till the spot we stand on burns its top against the zodiac (burning zone), 
or imaginary path of the sun. 



190 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



When that her golden couplets 1 are disclosed, 2 310 
His silence will sit drooping. - 

Hamlet. Hear you, sir; 

What is the reason that you use me thus? 
I loved you ever: but it is no matter; 
Let Hercules himself do what he may, 
The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. 

[Exit. 
King. I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon 
him. 

[Exit Horatio. 

[To Laertes.] Strengthen your patience in 3 our 

last night's speech; 
We'll put the matter to the present push. — 4 
Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son. 
This grave shall have a living monument : 320 

An hour of quiet shortly shall we see ; 
Till then, in patience our proceeding be. 

[Exeunt. 

Scene II. — A Hall in the Castle. 
Enter Hamlet and Horatio. 

Hamlet. So much for this, sir : now shall you 
see the other: 5 
You do remember all the circumstance? 6 
Horatio. Remember it, my lord! 
Hamlet. Sir, in my heart there was a kind of 
fighting 7 
That would not let me sleep: methought I lay 
Worse than the mutines* in the bilboes. 9 

Rashly, 10 
And praised be rashness 11 for it : let us know, 
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well, 
When our deep plots do pall: 12 and that should 

teach, 
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, 1 

Rough-hew them how we will. 

Horatio. That is most certain. 



1 young 
2 producea 



Hn the thought 

of 
Hnstant test 



^document 
^details 



''struggle 

s rebels 
^stocks 

10 hastily 

^haste 



■ 2 fail 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



191 



Hamlet Up from my cabin, 
My sea-gown scarfed about 1 me, in the dark 
Groped* I to find out them: had my desire; 
Finger 'd 3 their packet ; and, in fine, withdrew 
To mine own room* again: making so bold, 
My fears forgetting manners, to unseal 
Their grand commission; where I found, 
Horatio, — 

royal knavery! — an exact command, 
Larded 5 with many several sorts of reasons, 20 
Importing 6 Denmark's 1 health, and England's 1 

too, 
With, ho! *such bugs 8 and goblins in my life, 
That, on the supervise, 9 no leisure bated, 10 
No, not to stay 11 the grinding of the axe, 
My head should be struck off. 

Horatio. Is 't possible? 

Hamlet. Here's the commission: read it at 
more leisure. 
But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed? 

Horatio. I beseech you. 

Hamlet. Being thus benetted 12 round with 
villainies, — 
fEre I could make a prologue to my brains, 30 

They 13 had begun the play. I sat me down; 
Devised a new commission; wrote it fair: 14 

1 once did hold it, as our statists 15 do, 
A baseness 16 to write fair, and labour'd much 
How to forget that learning; but, sir, now 
It did me yeoman's 11 service: wilt thou know 
The effect 13 of what I wrote? 

Horatio. Ay, good my lord. 

Hamlet. An earnest conjuration 19 from the 
king, 
As England was his faithful tributary; 
As love between them like the palm might 

flourish; 40 



Hhrown loosely 

round 
2 sought 
3 put my hand 

on 
l cabin 



Hnterspersed 
^concerning 
''king of 

s bugbears 

Hooking over 
10 without delay 
ll wait for 



12 ensnared 



13 i.e. my brains 
u in good hand 

writing 
15 statesmen 
16 mark of low 

birth 
17 right trusty 
18 purport 

19 solemn appeal 



* Such bugbears and imaginary fears caused through my being alive, 
t Ere I could devise a plan, my brains had commenced the work. 



192 



HAMLET 



As peace should still her wheaten garland wear, 
And stand a comma 'tween their amities; 1 
And many such-like as'es of great charge, 2 — 
That, on the view and know 3 of these contents, 
Without debatement" further, more or less, 
He should the bearers put to sudden* death, 
Not shriving-time allowed. 

Horatio. How was this sealed? 

Hamlet. Why, even in that was heaven 
ordinant. 6 
I had my father's signet in my purse, 
Which was the model 1 of that Danish seal ; 
Folded the writ 9 up in the form of the other; 
Subscribed 3 it; gave't the impression; 10 placed it 

safely, 
The changeling never known. Now, the next 

day 
Was our sea-fight ; and what to this was sequent 11 
Thou know'st already. 

Horatio. So Guildenstern and Rosencrantz 
go to't. 12 

Hamlet. *Why, man, they did make love to 
this employment ; 
They are not near 13 my conscience; ftheir defeat 1 * 
Does by their own insinuation 15 grow: 
'Tis dangerous, when the baser nature comes 
Between the pass 16 and fell 1 '' incensed points 
Of mighty opposites 1 8 

Horatio. Why, what a king is this! 

Hamlet. Does it not, 19 think 'st thee, stand me 
now upon 19 — 
He that hath kill'd my king, and wronged my 

mother; 
Popp'd in between the election and my hopes; 



50 



60 



[Act V 



friendships 

2 weighty pro- 
visos 

heading and 
knowledge 

debate 

Hnstant 



^ordaining 

''counterpart 
^document 
9 signed 
10 sealed 



^subsequent 
12 to their death 



13 do not trouble 

destruction 

^intrusion 

16 thrust 
17 deadly 
^adversaries 

19 is it not 
incumbent 
upon me? 



it 



*They undertook this service for the king of their own free will; 
exactly accorded with their own wishes. 

t Their destruction (i. e. of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) has been 
brought about by their wilful intruding into this business; it is dangerous for 
any one to come between the thrust (pass) and sword-points of angry (incensed) 
opponents fighting a deadly (Jell) duel. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



Thrown out his angle for my proper 1 life, 
And with such cozenage 2 — is't not perfect con- 
science, 
To quit 3 him with this arm? and is't not to be 

damn'd 
To let this canker of our nature come 
In further evil? 70 

Horatio. It must be shortly* known to him 
from England 
What is the issue 5 of the business there. 

Hamlet. It will be short : the interim 6 is mine ; 
And a man's life's no more than to say "One." 
But I am very sorry, good Horatio, 
That to Laertes I forgot myself; 
For, by the image 7 of my cause, I see 
The portraiture of his: I'll court his favours: 8 
But, sure, the bravery 9 of his grief did put me 
Into a towering passion. 

Horatio. Peace! who comes here? 80 

Enter Osric. 

Osric. Your lordship is right welcome back 
to Denmark. 

Hamlet. I humbly thank you, sir. — Dost 
know this water-fly? 

Horatio. No, my good lord. 

Hamlet. Thy state is the more gracious; for 
'tis a vice to know him. He hath much land, 
and fertile: let a beast be lord of beasts, and his 
crib 10 shall stand at the king's mess: 11 'tis a 
chough; 12 but, as I say, spacious in the possession 90 
of dirt 13 

Osric. Sweet lord, if your lordship were at 
leisure, I should 1 * impart a thing 15 to you from 
his majesty. 

Hamlet. I will receive it, sir, with all diligence 
of spirit. Put your bonnet 15 to his right use; 'tis 
for the head. 

Osric. I thank your lordship, 'tis very hot. 



193 



hod and line 
for my own 
life 

Hrickery 

Ho settle with 
him 



*soon 

5 result 
Hntervening 
time 



''reflection 
s good will 
dragging 



10 manger 
Stable 
12 chattering 
jackdaw 
13 land 

u it is my duty 
15 something 



"cap 



194 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



Hamlet. No, believe me, 'tis very cold; the 
wind is northerly. _ 100 

Osric. It is indifferent 1 cold, my lord, indeed. 

Hamlet. But yet, methinks, it is very sultry, 
and hot; or my complexion 2 ■ 

Osric. Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sul- 
try, — as 'twere, — I cannot tell how. — But, my 
lord, his majesty bade me signify to you, that 
he has laid a great wager on your head. Sir, this 
is the matter 

Hamlet. I beseech you, remember 

[Hamlet moves him to put on his hat. 

Osric. Nay, in good faith; for mine ease, in 110 
good faith. Sir, here is newly come to court 
Laertes; believe me, an absolute 3 gentleman, 
full of most excellent differences,* of very soft 5 
society, and great showing: 5 indeed, to speak 
feelingly of him, he is the card or calendar of 
gentry; 7 for you shall find in him the continent* 
of what part a gentleman would see. 

Hamlet. Sir, *his definemenP suffers no per- 
dition 10 in you: — though, I know, to divide him 
inventorially, n would dizzy the arithmetic of 120 
memory; and yet but yaw neither, 12 in respect 
of his quick sail. But, in the verity of extolment, 
I take him to be a soul of great article; and his 
infusion of such dearth 13 and rareness, 1 * as, to 
make true diction 15 of him, his semblable 1 *^ is his 
mirror; and who else would trace him, his um- 
brage, 17 nothing more. 

Osric. Your lordship speaks most infallibly 
of him. 

Hamlet. The concernancy 18 sir? why do we 130 
wrap the gentleman in our more rawer 19 breath? 

Osric. Sir? 



Moderately 
Constitution 



3 perfect 
^distinctions 
5 gentle 
^elegance 
''guide of fash- 
ion 
Embodiment 

definition 
10 loss 
n like taking an 

inventory 
12 see footnote 

13 scarity,dear- 
ness 

u qualities rare- 
ly found 

15 description 

^likeness 

^shadow 

^connection 
"double com- 
parative 



* The description of him suffers no loss in your telling— though to make 
a detailed list of all his good qualities would bewilder a skilled arithmetician, 
who would come as far from a complete enumeration of them as a boat 
holding an unsteady course (yaw) falls behind a fast-sailing vessel. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



195 



Horatio. Is't not possible to understand in 
another tongue? You will do 't, sir, really. 

Hamlet. What imports the nomination of this 
gentleman? 

Osric. Of Laertes? 

Horatio. His purse is empty already; all his 
golden words are spent. 

Hamlet. Of him, sir. 140 

Osric. I know you are not ignorant 

Hamlet. I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, 
if you did, it would not much approve me. 1 Well, 
sir. 

Osric. You are not ignorant of what excel- 
lence Laertes is 

Hamlet. I dare not confess that, lest I should 
compare with him in excellence; but, to know a 
man well, were to know himself. 

Osric. I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the 150 
imputation 2 laid on him by them, 3 in his meed* 
he's unfellowed. 5 

Hamlet. What's his weapon? 

Osric. Rapier and dagger. 

Hamlet. That's two of his weapons : but, well. 

Osric. The king, sir, hath wagered with him 
six Barbary horses: against the which he has 
imponed, 5 as I take it, six French rapiers and 
poniards," 1 with their assigns, 8 as girdle, hangers, 9 
and so: three of the carriages, 10 in faith, are very 160 
dear to fancy, very responsive 11 to the hilts, most 
delicate carriages, and of very liberal conceit 12 

Hamlet. What call you the carriages? 

Horatio. I knew you must be edified by the 
margent, ere you had done. 

Osric. The carriages, sir, are the hangers. 

Hamlet. The phrase would be more germane 13 
to the matter, if we could carry cannon by our 
sides: I would it might be hangers till then. But, 
on : six Barbary horses against six French swords, 170 
their assigns, and three liberal-conceited car- 



^o me much 
credit 



2 repute 

z by his skill in 

arms 
*merit 
^unrivalled 



^staked 

1 small daggers 

^appendages 

s part of sword 

belt 
10 hangers 
n well matched 
12 elaborate de- 
sign 



13 akin, 

appropriate 



196 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



riages; that's the French bet against the Danish. 
Why is this imponed, as you call it? 

Osric. The king, sir, hath laid, 1 that in a 
dozen passes between yourself and him, he shall 
not exceed you three hits: he hath laid on 
twelve for nine; and it would come to immediate 
trial, if your lordship would vouchsafe the 
answer. 2 

Hamlet. How if I answer "no?" 180 

Osric. I mean, my lord, the opposition of 
your person in trial. 

Hamlet. Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if 
it please his majesty, it is the breathing time 3 of 
day with me; let the foils be brought, the gen- 
tleman willing,* and the king hold his purpose, 
I will win for him, if I can; if not, I wilP gain 
nothing but my shame, and the odd hits. 

Osric. Shall I redeliver 6 you e'en so? 

Hamlet. To this effect, sir: after what flour- 190 
ish your nature will. 

Osric. I commend my duty to your lordship. 

Hamlet. Yours, yours. — [Exit Osric] He 
does well to commend it himself; there are no 
tongues else for's 7 turn. 

Horatio. This lapwing runs away with the 
shell on his head. 

Hamlet. Thus has he (and many more of the 
same breed, that, I know, the drossy 9 age dotes 
on) only got the tune of the time, and outward 200 
habit of encounter; a kind of yesty* collection, 
which carries them through and through the 
most fond 10 and winnowed 11 opinions; and do 
but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out. 
Enter a Lord. 

Lord. My lord, his majesty commended him 
to you by young Osric, who brings back to him, 
that you attend 12 him in the hall: he sends to 
know, if your pleasure hold 13 to play with Laertes, 
or that 1 * you will take longer time. 



Wagered 



"^acceptance 



Hime for exer- 
cise 

Hfhe be willing 
5 shall 

^report 



7 for his 

^worthless 
frothy 

10 foolish 
^well sifted 



12 await 
13 hold good 
u if 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



Hamlet I am constant to my purposes; they 210 
follow the king's pleasure : if his fitness speaks, 
mine is ready; now, or whensoever, provided I 
be so able 1 as now. 

Lord. The king, and queen, and all are com- 
ing down. 

Hamlet. In happy time. 2 

Lord. The queen desires you to use some 
gentle entertainment 3 to Laertes, before you fall 
to play. 

Hamlet. She well instructs me. [Exit Lord. 220 

Horatio. You will lose this wager, my lord. 

Hamlet. I do not think so ; since he went into 
France, I have been in continual practice; I 
shall win at the odds. But thou wouldst not 
think, how ill all's here about my heart: but it 
is no matter. 

Horatio. Nay, good my lord 

Hamlet. It is but foolery;* but it is such a 
kind of gain-giving , 5 as would perhaps trouble 
a woman. 230 

Horatio. If your mind dislike anything, obey 
it: I will forestall 6 their repair 7 hither, and say 
you^re not fit . 8 «wG -Jtt£tJ//tJL*j . 

^tlamlet. Not a whit; we defy augury : there 
is ajspecial providence in the fall of a sparrow. 
If iTlre'now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to 
come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will 
come: the readiness is all: since no man has 
aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave 
betimes? Let be.* n 

Enter King, Queen, Laertes, Lords, Osric, and 
Attendants with foils, etc. 

King. Come, Hamlet, come, and take this 

hand from me. 

[The King puts the hand of Laertes into 
that of Hamlet. 
Hamlet. Give me your pardon, sir : I've done 

you wrong; 



197 



*fit for the con- 
test 



2 at the right 
moment 

z act courteous- 

ly 



4 a silly feeling 
^misgiving 



^anticipate 

7 coming 

8 ready 



,t- tvL 



r**J~i 



9 no matter 



198 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



250 



But pardon't, 1 as you are a gentleman. 

This presence 2 knows, 

And you must needs have heard, how I am 

punish' d 3 
With sore distraction. What I have done, 
That might your nature, honour, and exception* 
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness. 
Was 't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet : 
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away, 
And, when he 's not himself, does wrong Laertes, 
Then Hamlet does it not; Hamlet denies it. 
Who does it, then? His madness: if'tbeso, 
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd; 
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy. 
Sir, in this audience, 
Let my disclaiming from 5 a purposed evil* 
Free 7 me so far in your most generous thoughts, 
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house, 3 
And hurt my brother. 

Laertes. I am satisfied in nature, 3 260 

Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most 
To my revenge : but in my terms of 10 honour, 
I stand aloof; and will 11 no reconcilement, 12 
*Till by some elder masters, of known honour, 
I have a voice and precedent of peace, 
To keep my name 13 ungoredM But till that time, 
I do receive your offer'd love like love, 
And will not wrong it. 

Hamlet. I embrace it freely 15 

And will this brother's wager frankly play. 
Give us the foils. Come on. 

Laertes. Come, one for me. ] 

Hamlet. I'll be your foil, Laertes: in mine 
ignorance 
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night, 
Stick fiery off indeed. 

Laertes. You mock me, sir. 

Hamlet. No, by this hand. 



pardon it 
Hhese present 

3 afflicted 

^objection 



disavowing 
Hntentional 

wrong 
''acquit 
8 at random 
^personally 

10 as a matter of 

n will have 

^reconciliation 



13 honor 
u unstained 



lb tdke you at 
your word 



* "Until I have an opinion and precedent that will justify me in making 
peace." 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



199 



King. Give them the foils, young Osric. — 
Cousin Hamlet, 
You know the wager? 

Hamlet. Very well, my lord; 

Your grace hath laid the odds o' the weaker side. 

King. I do not fear it ; I have seen you both : 
But since he is better'd, we have therefore odds. 

Laertes. This is too heavy, let me see another. 

Hamlet. This likes me well. 1 These foils have 
all a 2 length? 

Osric. Ay, my good lord. 

[ They prepare to play. 

King. Set me the stoups 3 of wine upon that 
table : 
If Hamlet give the first or second hit, 
*Or quit in answer of the third exchange, 
Let all the battlements their ordnance* fire; 
The king shall drink to Hamlet's better breath; 
And in the cup an union b shall he throw, 
Richer than that which four successive kings 
In Denmark's crown have worn. Give me the 

cups; 
And let the kettle 6 to the trumpet speak, 
The trumpet to the cannoneer without, 
The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to 

earth, 
"Now the king drinks to Hamlet!" — Come, 

begin;— _ 
And you, the judges, bear a wary 1 eye. 

Hamlet. Come on, sir. 

Laertes. Come, my lord. [They play. 

Hamlet. One. 

Laertes. No. 

Hamlet. ■ . Judgment. 

Osric. A hit, a very palpable* hit. 

Laertes. Well; — again. 



280 



290 



ipleases, suits 



Hankards 



Gannon 



5 pearl 



^kettledrum 



''watchful 



Evident 



* Pay off (Laertes) in meeting him at the third encounter. 



200 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



King. Stay; give me drink. — Hamlet, this 

pearl is thine; 300 

Here's to thy health. Give him the cup. 

[Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within. 
Hamlet. I'll play this bout first; set it by 

awhile. 

Come. — [They play] Another hit; what say you? 

Laertes. A touch, a touch, I do confess. 

King. Our son shall win. 

Queen. He's fat, and scant of breath. 

Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, 1 rub thy brows: handkerchief 

The queen carouses to thy fortune, 2 Hamlet. HHnks good 

Hamlet. Good madam! luck to thee 

King. Gertrude, do not drink. 

Queen. I will, my lord; I pray you, pardon 

me. 
King. [Aside] It is the poison'd cup; it is 

too late. 310 

Hamlet. I dare not drink yet, madam; by 

and by. 
Queen. Come, let me wipe thy face. 
Laertes. My lord, I'll hit him now. 
King. I do not think 't. 

Laertes. [Aside] And yet it is almost against 

my conscience. 
Hamlet. Come, for the third, Laertes: you 

but dally; 3 : Hrifle 

I pray you, pass with your best violence; 
I am afeared you make a wanton* of me. ^port of 

Laertes. Say you so? come on. [They play. 
Osric. Nothing, neither way. 
Laertes. Have at you now. • 320 

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then in scuffling, 
they change rapiers, and Hamlet wounds 
Laertes. 
King. Part them; they are incensed. 

Hamlet. Nay, come again. [The Queen falls. 
Osric. Look to the queen there, ho! 

Horatio. They bleed on both sides. How is 
it, my lord? 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



201 



Osric. How is it, Laertes? 

Laertes. Why, as a woodcock to mine own 
springe, 1 Osric; 
I am justly kill'd with mine own treachery. 

Hamlet How does the queen? v 

King. She swoons to see them bleed. 

Queen. No,*no, the drink, the drink, — my 
dear Hamlet ! — 
The drink, the drink; — I am poison'd. [Dies. 

Hamlet. O villainy! — Ho! let the door be 
locked:— 330 

Treachery! seek it out. [Laertes falls. 

. Laertes. It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou 

art slain; 
No medicine in the world can do thee good; 
In thee there is not half an hour of life; 
The treacherous instrument is in thy hand, 
Uribated* and envenom'd; 3 the foul practice 
Hath turn'd itself on me; lo, here I lie, 
Never to rise again: thy mother's poisoned: 
I can no more : — the king, the king's to blame. 

Hamlet. The point envenomed too! — 340 

Then venom, to thy work. [Stabs the King. 

All. Treason! treason! 

King. O, yet defend me, friends: I am but 
hurt. 

Hamlet. Here, thou incestuous, murderous, 
damned Dane, 
Drink off this potion: — is thy union here? 
Follow my mother. [King dies. 

Laertes. He is justly served; 

It is a poison temper , d i by himself. 
Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet : 
Mine and my father's death come not upon thee; 
Nor thine on me! [Dies. 

Hamlet. Heaven make thee free 5 of it! I 
follow thee. 350 

I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen adieu! 
You that look pale and tremble at this chance, 6 
That are but mutes or audience to this act, 



2 unblunted 
3 poisoned 



^compounded 



5 i.e. from the 
guilt 

e event 



202 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



Had I but time, — as this fell 1 sergeant, 2 Death, 
Is strict in his arrest, — O, I could tell you — 
But let it be. — Horatio, I am dead; 
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright 
To the unsatisfied. 

Horatio. Never believe it: 

I am more an antique 3 Roman than a Dane : 
Here's yet some liquor left. 

Hamlet. As thou'rt a man, 

Give me the cup: let go; by heaven I'll have 't. 

good Horatio, what a wounded name, 
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind 

me! 
If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart, 
Absent thee from felicity a while,* 
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, 
To tell my story. 

[March afar off, and shot within. 
What warlike noise is this? 
Osric. Young Fortinbras, with conquest 
come from Poland, 
To the ambassadors of England gives 
This warlike volley. 5 

Hamlet. O, I die, Horatio; 

The potent poison quite o'er-crows 6 my spirit: 

1 cannot live to hear the news from England ; 
But I do prophesy the election 'lights 7 

On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice: 9 
*So tell him, with the occurrents, 9 more and less, 
Which have solicited. 10 — The rest is silence. [Dies. 
Horatio. Now cracks a noble heart: — good 
night, sweet prince; 
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest! 

[March within. 
Why does the drum come hither? 

Enter Fortinbras, the English Ambassadors, 
and others. 
Fortinbras. Where is this sight? 



560 



370 



1 cruel 
^sheriff's officer 



3 ancient 



forego for a 
time the joys 
of heaven 



b fires this 
salute 

^triumphs over 

''alights 
8 vote, support 
9 events 
10 roused (me) 



* Tell him that, and also inform him of all the events greater and smaller 
which have called for this deed of mine. 



Scene II] 



HAMLET 



203 



Horatio. What is it ye would see? 380 

If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search. 

Fortinbras. *This quarry cries on havoc. O 
proud Death, 
What feast is toward 1 in thine eternal cell, 
That thou so many princes at a shot 2 
So bloodily hast struck? 

1st Ambassador. The sight is dismal; 

And our affairs from England come too late : 
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing, 
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd, 
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead: 
Where should we have our thanks? 

Horatio. Not from his 3 mouth, 390 

Had it the ability of life to thank you: 
He never gave commandment for their death. 
But since, so jump* upon this bloody question, 
You from the Polack wars, and you from Eng- 
land, 
Are here arrived, give order that these bodies 
High on a stage 5 be placed to the view; 
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world, 
How these things came about: so shall you hear 
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; 
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters; 400 

Of deaths put on 6 by cunning, and forced cause; 
And, in this upshot, 7 purposes mistook 
Fall'n on the inventors'* heads: all this can I 
Truly deliver.* 

Fortinbras. Let us haste to hear it, 
And call the noblest to the audience. 
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune: 
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom, 
Which now to claim my vantage 10 doth invite me. 

Horatio. Of that I shall have also cause to 
speak, 
And from his 11 mouth whose voice will draw on 

more: 12 410 

But let this same be presently 13 performed, 



Hmminent 
2 with one shot 



Hhe king's 



*just 



^raised 
platform 



^brought about 
''final issue 
^contrivers 
^narrate 



10 position of 
advantage 

11 Hamlet's 
12 influence more 

people 
immediately 



This heap of dead bodies cries out against this wanton slaughter. 



204 



HAMLET 



[Act V 



Even while men's minds are wild : lest more mis- 
chance, 

On plots and errors, happen. 
Fortinbras. Let four captains 

Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage; 

For he was likely, had he been put on, 1 

To have proved most royally : and, for his pas- 
sage, 

The soldiers' music, and the rites of war, 

Speak 2 loudly for him. 

Take up the bodies: such a sight as this 

Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. 420 

Go, bid the soldiers shoot. 3 

[A dead march. Exeunt, bearing away the 
dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance 
is shot off. 



^'proved 



l (let them) 



3 discharge a 
volley in 
honor of 
the dead 



NOTES 
Act I. Scene I 

Line 2. Unfold yourself. Declare who you are. 

3. Long live the king. The password for the night. 

15. This ground. This country, i. e. Denmark. 

Liegemen to the Dane. Loyal subjects to the king of Denmark. 

16. Give you good-night. Either (1) God give you, or (2) I give you. 
19. A piece of him. Something like him. 

29. Approve our eyes. Confirm what we said we saw. 

36. Yond same star. Yond is a demonstrative pronoun. Star, the 
Great Bear, which pivots, as it were, around the pole-star. 

42. Scholar. Having a knowledge of Latin, and able to exorcise the 
Ghost by adjuration. 

44. Harrows. Tortures, by rending my heart, as a harrow tears up 
the ground. 

45. It would he spoke to. There was a superstitious idea that a 
ghost should be addressed before it could speak. 

46. Usurp 'st. To take possession of and use without any right. The 
usurpation is twofold: (1) of the time of midnight; (2) of the form and 
person of the king. 

48. Buried Denmark. The late king of Denmark, Hamlet's father, 
now dead and buried. 

57. Sensible. What is apparent to the senses. 

63. Sledded Polack. Polander using a sledge. 

68. The gross and scope of my opinion. I cannot say exactly, but 
to speak generally, my opinion is. 

72. So. As valiant. 

85. This side of our known world. The eastern hemisphere. 

87. Law and heraldry. Law = civil law. Heraldry = the formal- 
ities of chivalry. 

88. With his life. I. e. if he fell in combat. 

90. Moiety competent. A portion; an equivalent portion of terri- 
tory. 

205 



206 HAMLET 



94. Carriage of the article design'd. The meaning of, the agreement 
drawn up between them. 

96. Unimproved. Untried, not taught by experience. 

98. Shark'd up a list of lawless resolutes. Gathered together a band 
of desperadoes. 

99. For food and diet. I. e. no pay given; they enlisted for their 
keep alone. 

100. Hath a stomach in't. Affords an opportunity for the display of 
courage. 

101. Our state. The rulers of the state. 

107. Homage. Literally, roomage, or stowage (rummage) of a 
ship's cargo in the hold; hence, the hurry and bustle of loading a ship. 

109. Well may it sort. Agree. Bernardo and Horatio ascribe the 
appearance of the ghost as indicating his concern in the impending war. 
They have no suspicion that the king had been murdered. Thus we learn 
by implication that the murder had been kept secret. 

112. Mote. A small thing, i. e. the appearance of the ghost, but a 
portent of great troubles. 

114. Mightiest Julius. Julius Caesar, the famous Eoman general, who 
was assassinated by conspirators. See also note III. ii. 111. 

119. Neptune. The god of the sea; so "Neptune's empire" means 
the ocean. See also note III. ii. 157. 

120. Doomsday. Death. The day of judgment. 
122. Harbingers. Forerunners. 

125. Climatures. Particular districts. 

127. I'll cross it. Cross the ghost in his course. It was popularly 
supposed that misfortune would befall anyone who crossed the path of a 
ghost. 

136. Up-hoarded. . . . Extorted, etc. The popular superstition was 
that if a man had wrongfully obtained wealth, and concealed it during 
his life, his spirit would have no rest until it had revealed the place of 
concealment. 

140. Partisan. A long-handled weapon usually so constructed as to 
fill the office of an axe and a bayonet. 

154. Extravagant and erring. "Wandering abroad and straying" 
in the original meaning of the Latin extravagare and errare. 

162. Planets strike. Planets were supposed to influence human life. 
Especially were they supposed to injure at night. 

166. Russet. Keddish, rosy. It may be noted that the first streak 
of dawn is gray, not red. 



NOTES 207 



Act I. Scene II 



4. Brow of 'woe. Woeful brow. 

18. A weak supposal of our worth. Forming the estimate that our 
power is weak. 

21. Colleagued, etc. Fortinbras has two thoughts in mind: (1) the 
weakness of the kingdom of Denmark; (2) the hope of gaining advantage. 
The two thoughts combined (colleagued) lead him to make his demands 
upon the king. 

29. Bed-rid. Confined to his bed, unable to take part in the war. 

31. In that. Inasmuch as. 

32. Proportions. The different parts of the army, i. e. horsemen, 
infantry, etc., being supplied in due proportions. 

33. Subject. Collective, his subjects. 

39. Commend your duty. Give evidence of your readiness to perform 
your duty. 

44. Speak of reason. Make a reasonable request. 

47. Native to. Closely connected by nature. The context shows that 
Polonius supported Claudius in his election as king. 

53. Coronation. Both Hamlet and Laertes had come to Elsinore; 
Hamlet from Wittenberg for the funeral of his father, Laertes from 
Paris to join in the coronation festivities. Laertes now desires to return 
to Paris, and Hamlet to Wittenberg. See note on 1. 113, p. 208. 

62. Take thy fair hour. Enjoy yourself in your youth. 

63. Best graces, etc. May your accomplishments and gracious man- 
ners assist you to pass the time in Paris as you please. 

64. Cousin. Hamlet was his stepson; but Shakespeare uses "cousin" 
to express any relationship. 

65. Kin. Of the same race. Kind. Of the same nature. 

67. Too much i' the sun. The sunshine of the king's presence. 
(Play on words continued from 1. 65.) 

68. Nighted colour. Dark as night. Hamlet is in mourning for his 
father, while the rest of the court are gaily dressed because of the 
coronation. 

70. Vailed lids. Downcast eyelids. To vail •= to lower. 
74. Common. Contrasted with particular in line 75. 

77. Inky cloak. Black like ink. 

78. Customary suits. May mean (1) black suits usually worn as a 
sign of mourning, or (2) the suits Hamlet was accustomed to wear. 

92. Obsequious sorrow. Dutiful sorrow, as of a son mourning a 
father; and also sorrow befitting funeral ceremonies. 



208 HAMLET 



95. Incorrect. Unsubdued, unsubmissive; a participle. (See Gram- 
matical notes, p. 239.) 

99. Any the most, etc. Anything the most commonly perceived. 

109. The most immediate. The next heir to the throne. The remark 
is intended to conciliate Hamlet and to reconcile him to his exclusion 
from the throne. 

113. Wittenberg. The university was not founded until 1502, therefore 
the mention of it is an anachronism. It was famous in Shakespeare's day 
in connection with Martin Luther. It was a favorite university with 
the Danes. 

114. Retrograde to our desire. Contrary to our wish. 

115. Bend you. Change your mind and decide to stay. We 6peak 
of following our "bent" or "inclination." 

118. Lose her prayers. Entreat in vain. 

124. In grace whereof. In honor of Hamlet's acquiescence. 

125. Denmark drinks. Johnson remarks on the tendency of the king 
to feast and drink whenever occasion presented itself. 

126. Cannon. An anachronism. 

127. Rouse. A deep draught. 
132. Canon. A religious law. 

Self -slaughter. The first reference to Hamlet's idea of suicide. Cf. 
III. i. 56, p. 128. 

134. Uses. The ordinary habits of life. 

140. Hyperion. A character of Greek mythology, a type of manly 
beauty. A satyr, in classical mythology, was a sylvan deity, typifying 
roughness and bestiality. See also III. iv. 56, p. 151. 

149. Niobe. In Greek mythology, the daughter of Tantalus and 
the wife of Amphion, King of Thebes. She boasted that her children 
were more numerous and more beautiful than were those of Leto, mother 
of Apollo and Artemis. In revenge Apollo and Artemis killed all 
Niobe 's children. The portrayal of Niobe 's grief has ever been a favor- 
ite subject for artists. 

150. Discourse of reason. A beast lacks intellect and is thus without 
the power to reason. 

153. Hercules. A character in Greek mythology, renowned for his 
great strength and daring exploits. 

155. The flushing. I. e. had ceased to produce redness. 

158. Hold my tongue. Mark Hamlet's reticence in public on his 
mother's shame. 

162. Change. Exchange. Hamlet will change places with Horatio. 
He will be Horatio's "servant," Horatio will be his "friend." 



NOTES 209 

179. Thrift. A thrifty arrangement. Spoken in sarcasm. 

181. Dearest foe. My most bitter enemy. Shakespeare uses ' ' dear ' ' 
as having an intensive force. 

199. Cap-a-pe\ From head to foot. From the Latin words caput 
(head) and pes (foot). 

203. Truncheon. Staff of command. 

229. Beaver. The lower front part of the helmet, which could be 
raised to expose the lower part of the face. 

241. Sable-silver 'd. Dark hair tinged with gray. 

247. Tenable in your silence. Eegarded as still to be kept secret. 

255. Foul play. Treachery, not murder. 

Act I. Scene III 

2. As the "winds, etc. Let me hear from you whenever the wind is 
favorable, and a vessel sails for France. 

6. Fashion. Changeable and temporary as a fashion in dress. 
Toy in blood. The passing fancy of youth, not a deep affection. 

7. Primy nature. Nature in the springtime. 
10. No more but so? Nothing more than that. 

16. The virtue of his will. His honest intention in love. 
22. Choice. Hamlet, as a prince, is not free to choose his wife. His 
choice must be approved by the state. 

63. Hoops of steel. Bind them to thyself with bands as strong 
as steel. 

64. Dull thy palm. Do not make thyself common by being friendly 
with every one. 

71. Not expressed in fancy. Not marked by eccentricity in style. 

76. For loan oft loses both itself and friend. There is a double loss: 
(1) of the money lent; (2) of the friend to whom it is lent. 

86. Shall keep the key, etc. I will remember your advice and follow 
it till you release me from obedience. 

90. Marry. An oath: "By (the Virgin) Mary." 

107. Sterling. True, pure; used of gold. The word is an abbrevia- 
tion of Esterling, a name for the Eastern merchants, who dealt in pure 
money, i. e. money of pure gold and exact weight. Polonius suggests 
that Hamlet's vows are not to be regarded as of true metal; they are 
unreliable. 

Tender yourself more dearly. Kegard or value yourself more highly. 

108. Crack the wind. To overstrain, e. g. to break a horse's wind 
by overdriving. 



210 HAMLET 

113. Given countenance. Has strengthened his declaration of love 
by vows of constancy. 

115. Woodcocks. Foolish birds, easily caught. The phrase is pro- 
verbial for deceiving a simple fellow. 

125. Larger tether. A longer rope, giving an animal more space for 
movement. Hamlet, as if tethered with a longer rope, has more liberty 
of action than Ophelia. 

127. Brokers. Go-betweens, negotiators. 

133. Slander. Disgrace. 

Act I. Scene IV 

9. Up-spring. Various explanations of this word are given. According 
to Elze, it was "the last and consequently the wildest dance at the old 
German merry-makings. ' ' 

12. Triumph. Sarcastic, representing the drinking of a pledge as 
some victorious event. 

19. Swinish phrase. They speak of us as being no better than 
swine. 

20. Soil our addition. Sully our title by thus comparing us to swine. 
22. The pith and marrow of our attribute. "The best and most 

valuable part of the praise that would be otherwise attributed to us." 
— Johnson. 

32. Nature's livery. A natural defect, bestowed by nature at birth. 

Fortune's star. An accidental defect through the influence of cir- 
cumstances. A person's life or fortune was supposed to be influenced by 
the stars. 

35. General censure. Public opinion. 

36. The dram of base. A slight admixture of evil. 

40. Spirit of health. A saved spirit, i. e. a good spirit. 

43. Questionable shape. Variously rendered: (1) in a form inviting 
question, (2) capable of being questioned, (3) arousing questions in Ham- 
let's mind. 

47. Canonized. Formally declared a saint according to the canons of 
the Roman church. 

49. Inurn'd. Entombed. Urn, here = grave. 

53. Glimpses. The moonbeams struggling from behind the clouds. 
The ghost appears during these glimpses. 

54. We fools of nature. "We" should be "us," objective after 
"making," — making us the sport of nature. 



NOTES 211 

74. Deprive your sovereignty of reason. Take away the control of 
reason, the ruling principle of the mind, i. e. deprive you of the faculty 
of reason. 

84. Neniean lion. The Nemean lion inhabited the valley of Nemea 
in Argolis. Eurytheus ordered Hercules to slay the beast as one of his 
twelve labors. After using his club and arrows in vain, Hercules 
strangled the lion with his hands. 

Act I. Scene V 

2. My hour. Cock-crow, when ghosts must return to the lower 
regions. 

10. To walk the night. To pass the night in wandering on earth. 

11. To fast, etc. One of the supposed punishments in hell. 

12. Days of nature. The period of my natural life. 

13. Burnt and purged away. An allusion to the doctrine of purga- 
tory. 

16. Harrow. To grievously distress. 

20. Fretful porcupine. The porcupine, when irritated, erects its 
quills. 

21. Eternal blazon. A revelation concerning the spirit world. 
Blazon = the blowing of a trumpet. 

33. Lethe. A river of the lower world. The souls that drank of it3 
waters immediately forgot their previous existence, and thus it became 
known as the river of oblivion. 

37. Process. The full account of. "Perhaps here the sense of an 
official narrative, coming nearly to the meaning of the French proces 
verbal." (Clarendon Press.) 

46. Hebenon. Oil made from henbane, which, according to Pliny, if 
dropped into the ear affects the brain. 

79. Distracted globe. (1) The troubled world or (2) a bewildered 
brain. In acting the play Hamlet puts his hand upon his head. 

80. Table. Writing tablet of slate or ivory. 

97. Hillo, etc. Hamlet, desiring his friends to approach, calls to 
them in terms which falconers use to bring back the hunting hawk. 

130. Upon my sword. The hilt of a sword formed a cross, and 
oaths were often taken upon it. 

132. Truepenny. A familiar phrase for "an honest fellow." Ac- 
cording to Collier it was "a mining term indicating where true ore was 
to be found." 



212 HAMLET 



147. As a stranger give it welcome. Treat it as you would a stranger, 
and politely comply with its request. 

154. Antic. May mean either: (1) strange, fantastic or (2) dis- 
guised, with reference to a grotesquely masked person in a masquerade. 



Act II. Scene I 

8. Keep. Lodge, live. 

26. You may go so far. You may charge him with such vices, but 
do not attribute to him anything worse. 

32. Unreclaimed. Untamed, a term in falconry. Eeclaim = to call 
back the falcon. 

36. A fetch of warrant. A device warranted to succeed in its object; 
or it may mean a device for which one has warrant or approval. The 
Quartos read "fetch of wit," a cunning device. 

43. In this consequence. With a reply somewhat as follows. 

60. We of wisdom and of reach. We persons of wisdom and fore- 
sight, i. e. we wise, f arseeing persons. 

61. Assays of bias. Indirect attempts. A metaphor from the game 
of bowls. The balls are weighted on one side so that they cannot run a 
direct course but must curve, and the tendency to deviate from the 
straight line is called bias. In the game the player does not aim directly 
at the Jack, but so that the ball may travel in a curve, the bias acting 
and bringing the ball round to the Jack. By this means the player is 
able to control the ball so as to pass round any obstacle lying in the direct 
path. What we now call the Jack was called the "mistress" in Shake- 
speare's time. 

67. Observe his inclination in yourself. This line has been variously 
interpreted: (1) Your own inclinations will enable you to judge what 
his bent is likely to be; (2) Shape your course according to his inclina- 
tions; (3) Observe for yourself, do not trust to the reports of others. 

69. Ply his music. Let him take his own course freely without inter- 
ference. 

76. Down-gyved. Hanging down over his ankles like gyves or fet- 
ters. 

86. Falls to. Sets to eagerly, i. e. as a hungry man to food. 

111. To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions. To be over-sus- 
picious, over-cautious. This is the falling age. The young lack discre- 
tion (1. 113), i. e. are not sufficiently cautious. 



NOTES 213 



Act II. Scene II 

5. Transformation. Complete change in manner and appearance. 

32. And be commanded. Beady to carry out any commission you (the 
king) may give us. 

52. Fruit. Dessert. As the dinner is followed by the dessert, the rich- 
est part of the meal, so the message of the Ambassadors from Norway will 
be followed, by the more important news that Polonius has to tell the king 
regarding Hamlet. 

56. The main. The principal cause. 

57. Our o'er-hasty marriage. The queen shrewdly divines the real 
cause of Hamlet's behavior. 

58. Sift. Examine thoroughly, and learn the truth. 

61. Upon our first. At our first interview with him, when we made 
your wishes known to him. 

67. Falsely borne in hand. Trifled with and deceived. Fortinbras 
had taken advantage of the advanced age and feebleness of the King of 
Norway. 

71. Assay of arms. Test of war. 

78. This enterprise. The body of troops engaged in the expedition. 

79. Regards of safety and allowance. Guarantees for the security of 
the country, and conditions on which the troops shall be allowed to pass 
through Denmark. 

81. More consider'd. When we have had full time for further con- 
sideration. 

113. Bosom. Ladies had a pocket in the front of their dress in 
which they carried love-letters or anything they prized. 

120. Ill at these numbers. Unskilled in writing verses. 

127. More above. Moreover. 

137. If I had play'd the desk, or table-book. Table-book = writing 
tablet. A sentence variously interpreted: (1) If I had acted as the 
agent of their correspondence; (2) If I had minutely recorded their cor- 
respondence; (3) If I had been like a memorandum book, of no intelligence, 
simply receiving impressions, and not communicating them to others. 

163. Loose. Let loose, as one lets a dog loose. 

164. Arras. Tapestry, so called from Arras, a town in France, where 
it was manufactured. The stage tapestry hung some distance from the 
walls, so that Polonius could readily conceal himself behind it. 

176. Fishmonger. One sent to fish out any secret. 



214 HAMLET 



227. These tedious old fools. The expression of Hamlet's relief at 
finding himself free from the presence of Polonius. He is his natural 
self for a moment, but, on the entrance of Eosencrantz and Guildenstern, 
resumes his assumed manner. 

258. Thinking makes it so. Compare — 

Stone walls do not a prison make, 

Nor iron bars a cage ; 
Minds innocent and quiet take 

That for a hermitage. 

— Lovelace. 

311. Moult no feather. Suffer no loss of honor; lose none of their 
dignity. Allusion may be "to dislodgement of feathers from the helmets 
of knights at tilting matches." 

320. Congregation of vapours. Collection of misty clouds hiding 
the face of the sun. 

327. Quintessence. The fifth essence. (Lat., quintus, the fifth.) 
The ancients recognized four elements — earth, air, fire, and water. After 
these had been extracted from any substance, they supposed there remained 
the pure essence — the fifth. 

344. Tickled o' the sere. This phrase describes persons easily moved 
to laughter. The metaphor is taken from the lock of a gun, the sere 
being the catch which prevents the hammer from falling', and which is 
released by the pulling of the trigger. 

346. The blank verse shall halt. This may mean: (1) the lady shall 
have the full liberty to express herself even if she break the metre; (2) 
Elze suggests that it refers to the omission of oaths, forbidden by 
statute, which would spoil the metre. 

353. Inhibition. An allusion to an occurrence which had taken place 
in England. Several companies of actors in Shakespeare's time had been 
deprived of their license to act in established theaters. The passage 
is often referred to in assigning the date of the play. 

362. Aiery of children. Aiery = brood. A reference to the young 
singing lads of the Chapel Eoyal of St. Paul's, who performed plays to 
the detriment of the regular actors. 

363. Little eyases. Nestlings or unfledged birds. 

Cry out on the top of question. Shout out at the top of their voices. 

366. Common stages. The theaters where the regular actors played. 

379. Tarre them to controversy. Urge them on to quarrel, as one 
sets dogs on to fight. 

387. Hercules, and his load too. Probably an allusion to the Globe 
Theater, the sign of which was Hercules carrying the globe. Shakespeare 
infers that the boys carried away much of the patronage of that theater. 



NOTES 215 

392. In little. In miniature. 

406. Handsaw. A corruption of "heron-saw," a heron. 

419. Boscius. The most celebrated actor in Rome, B. C. 134-62. He 
was considered so perfect in his profession that it became the fashion 
to apply the name Eoscius to anyone who had become particularly distin- 
guished in dramatic art. 

422. Buz, buz! Nonsense, nonsense. 

424. Then came each actor, etc. Probably a line from some old 
ballad. 

428. Scene individable. A play that observed the unities of place. 

429. Poem unlimited. A play in which the unity of place was not 
observed. 

Seneca. The famous Eoman philosopher, tutor of Nero, and his 
chief adviser during the early part of his reign. He committed suicide 
at Nero's command, A. D. 65. He is here mentioned as the great 
authority on tragic drama. 

430. Plautus. The celebrated Eoman comic poet is mentioned as the 
greatest authority on comedy. 

432. O Jephthah, etc. Jephthah was one of the judges of Israel, who 
delivered the people from the oppression of the Ammonites. He vowed 
to sacrifice to God the first thing to meet him on his return from battle, 
should he be victorious over the Ammonites. Upon his return he was met 
by his daughter. "He did to her what he had vowed to do." — 
Judges xi:39. 

448. Pious chanson. A kind of Christmas carol, containing some 
Scripture story in loose rhymes. Usually sung in the streets. 

452. Valanced. Fringed with a beard. 

454. Young lady. Women 's parts were played by boys. 

456. Chopine. A high shoe worn by Venetian ladies to give them 
the appearance of being tall. The boy actors wore these to add to their 
height. 

458. Cracked within the ring. "There was a ring or circle on the 
coin, within which the sovereign's head was placed; if the crack extended 
from the edge beyond this ring the coin was rendered unfit for currency. ' ' 
— Douce. 

460. French falconers. Poor sportsmen. The French falconers were 
not particular what birds they shot, game or not game. 

468. Caviare to the general. Caviare is the prepared roe of the Bus- 
sian sturgeon. It is considered a delicacy by those of cultivated taste, but 
is not palatable to others. The meaning is, that the play was a treat to 
educated people, but was lost upon the general public. 



216 HAMLET 



470. Cried in the top of mine. Whose judgments had more authority 
than mine. 

471. Well digested in the scenes. The scenes were well arranged so 
that the audience could readily follow the plot. 

479. tineas. In the Mneid of Virgil, this famous Trojan hero 
recounts to Dido, the queen of Carthage, the tale of the capture and 
destruction of Troy. 

Dido. The founder and queen of Carthage. When JEneas, by the 
command of the gods, deserted her, she committed suicide. 

483. Pyrrhus. The son of Achilles. In the siege of Troy he was 
one of those concealed in the wooden horse, and, when the city was cap- 
tured, was ruthless in the slaughter of the Trojans. 

Hyreanian beast. The tiger, a native of Hyrcania, a country on 
the south and south-east shores of the Caspian Sea. 

490. Total gules. All bloody. Gules, a term in heraldry = red. 

Trick 'd. A term in heraldry = a description by drawing or painting. 

492. Parching streets. The heat from the burning houses had dried 
the blood of Pyrrhus. 

495. O'er-sized with coagulate gore. Pyrrhus appears as if smeared 
with dried blood. 

496. Pyrrhus. See note on 1. 483 above. 

497. Priam. King of Troy. When that city was captured by the 
Greeks he was slain by Pyrrhus, son of Achilles. 

507. Ilium. Troy. So called from its founder, Ilus, son of Tros. 

513. Painted tyrant. A tyrant in a picture. The sword is drawn 
but does not descend. 

514. Neutral. Indifferent. His will is the one side; the matter, i. e. 
the sword stroke, the other. 

522. Cyclops. The Cyclops were a mythical race of monsters living 
in Sicily. They were commanded by Polyphemus, and were assistants of 
Vulcan. As such they forged the armor of gods and heroes. 

526. Fortune. The goddess Fortune. 

528. Fellies. Felloes; the pieces of wood composing the rim of a 
wheel into which the spokes are inserted, and the whole bound together 
by the tire. 

534. Hecuba. The wife of Priam, King of Troy, who was slain by 
Pyrrhus before her eyes. 

536. Mobled. Muffled up. 

564. God's bodykins. An oath, "by God's body." 

605. Muddy-mettled. Dull spirited, irresolute. 

606. John-a-dreams. John the dreamer. 



NOTES 217 

616. Pigeon-liver 'd. Timid as a pigeon. The liver was supposed to 
be the seat of courage and passion. 

Gall. Courage. 

619. This slave's offaL The King's refuse. Hamlet is reproaching 
himself for his lack of courage in not having slain the usurper, and 
given his dead body to the birds of prey. 

Act III. Scene I 

1. Drift of circumstance. Eoundabout method. 

43. Gracious. Polonius is now addressing the King. 

48. Sugar o'er. Like a pill coated with sugar to make it pleasant 
to the palate, and to disguise its true taste. 

62. Bub. Taken from the game of bowls. Any impediment or 
obstacle in the course of the bowl is termed a rub. (See Note II. i. 61.) 

72. Quietus. A legal term denoting the acquittance given by the 
sheriff as the official discharge of an account. 

73. Bare bodkin. A bodkin is an old term for a small dagger. Bare — 
unsheathed. 

81. Native hue. Natural color. 

83. Pith. Pitch, i. e. the highest point of a falcon's flight. 
113. Paradox. An assertion contrary to general experience, usually con- 
tradictory in terms and apparently opposed to common sense. 

148. Amble. To walk with mincing, effeminate steps. 

149. Nick-name. Literally, an additional name. An eJce-name, i. e. 
a name given to eke out another name. 

158. Glass of fashion. The mirror in which was reflected all that 
was in the best taste. 

Mould of form. The model for all others. 

161. Music vows. Vows sweet as music to Ophelia 's ears. 

164. Blown youth. Full blown. Hamlet was in his prime, thirty 
years of age. 

171. Disclose. The revelation. Brood, hatch, disclose, all refer to 
the hen hatching her chickens. "Disclose" is the technical term for the 
moment when the young bird peeps through the shell and discloses itself. 

175. Tribute. Probably an allusion to the Danegelt, a tax originally 
levied in Saxon times to provide the money to buy off the Danish invaders. 
It was first levied in the reign of Ethelred the Unready, A. D. 994. 

177. Variable objects. Variable = various. The king is suggesting 
that a change of scene will be the best cure for Hamlet's indisposition. 

190. Find him. Find out his secret. 



218 HAMLET 



Act III. Scene II 

11. Pcriwlg-pated. Periwig (Fr. perruque), a wig. It was the cus- 
tom for actors to wear wigs, though wigs did not come into general use 
till the reign of Charles II. 

15. Termagant. An imaginary being supposed by the Crusaders to 
have been one of the Saracen deities. It was a character frequently 
represented in the mystery plays, and was conspicuously a ranting part. 
In these plays, the degree of rant was the measure of the wickedness 
portrayed. 

16. Herod. King of Judsea. He was notorious for cruelty and tyr- 
anny. Herod was one of the principal characters in the old mystery 
plays, and was represented as a furious tyrant. 

31. In your allowance. By your own admission. 

38. Journeymen. Men working and paid by the day. 

44. Speak no more, etc. It was the custom of the clown to improvise 
jokes (the modern "gag" in a play). Shakespeare is probably hitting 
at Tarleton, an actor of his day, who was notorious for his power of 
"gagging." 

66. Candied tongue. Candied, coated over. The hypocrite's tongue 
coated with flattery. 

75. Blood and judgment. "According to the doctrine of the four 
humours, desire and confidence were seated in the blood, and judgment 
in the phlegm, and the due mixtures of the humours made a perfect 
character. ' ' — Johnson. 

82. One scene. The lines that Hamlet had written for the actors. 
See II. ii. 576, p. 124. 

85. The very comment of thy soul. Observe the king with all your 
powers of observation. 

87. Unkennel. Bring to light — i. e. as a dog is brought out of his 
kennel into the open. 

90. Vulcan. The Boman god of fire. He is said to have had his 
workshop under Mount Aetna in Sicily. The Cyclops were his workmen. 

Stithy. The forge or smithy of a blacksmith. 

99. The chameleon's dish. The chameleon was popularly supposed 
to feed on air. 

100. Promise-crammed. Stuffed with promises. Claudius had prom- 
ised Hamlet that he should be "his son" (I. ii. 64), i. e. his heir to the 
throne. 

105. University. An allusion to the practice of performing plays 
in the college halls. 



NOTES 219 

111. I' the Capitol. Caesar was not assassinated in the Capitol, but 
in the Curia Pompeii, at the foot of Pompey 's statue. Shakespeare in the 
plays Hamlet, Julius Ccesar, and Antony and Cleopatra, alluding to Caesar 's 
death, places the scene of his murder in the Capitol. 

Brutus. The chief of the conspirators against Caesar. He was a 
descendant of the famous Brutus who headed the people against the Tar- 
quins, destroyed kingly power, and established the Eoman republic. 
Brutus with Cassius and other conspirators was defeated at Philippi by 
Antony and Octavius and perished in the battle. 

125. Jig-maker. A composer or player of jigs. Jig was a ludicrous 
ballad, or a merry dance accompanying it. 

132. Suit of sables. Hamlet intends to say that he will cast aside 
his suit of mourning and will wear magnificent garments trimmed with 
fur, and be dressed as the rest of the court. 

138. Hobby-horse. A character in the May-games and Morris-dances. 
It was represented by a man with the figure of a horse fastened round 
his waist, the man 's legs being concealed by a long foot-cloth. 

141. Miching mallecho. Miching — skulking about for some sinister 
purpose. Mallecho ■= mischief. Hence, Miching mallecho = mischief or 
the spirit of mischief on the watch for an opportunity to do some one 
harm. 

152. Posy of a ring. A motto in verse inscribed inside a ring. 

156. Phoebus. The god of the sun. He was supposed to drive the 
chariot of the sun from east to west. Thirty times would indicate a 
full month. 

157. Tellus' orbed ground. The Greek goddess, Gas or Ge, the per- 
sonification of the earth. At Eome the earth was worshipped under the 
name of Tellus. Tellus ' orbed ground == the earth. 

158. Borrowed sheen. The light of the moon. The moon shines by 
the reflected light of the sun. 

160. Hymen. The god of marriage. 

168. Hold quantity. Are in proportion. 

171. As my love is sized, etc. My fear is in proportion to the quan- 
tity of my love. 

217. Anchor's cheer. The fare of a hermit. Anchor (shortened 
form of "anchorite"), hermit. 

235. Mouse-trap. Hamlet names the play thus because it is intended 
to entrap the guilty conscience of the king. 

241. Let the galled jade, etc. A proverbial expression. The meaning 
is "Let the guilty fear." (See Glossary under galled.) 



220 HAMLET 

Withers. That part of the horse between the shoulders, which takes 
the strain off the collar, or supports the saddle. 

244. Chorus. A character, as in the old Greek Plays, whose part it 
was to explain the action of the Play. 

247. Puppets (Fr. poupee, a doll). The allusion is to puppet shows, 
common in Shakespeare's day. These were explained to the spectators 
by an interpreter, who sat upon the stage for that purpose. Hamlet 
cynically likens Ophelia and her lover to dolls. 

253. Confederate season. Time or opportunity. The opportunity for 
the ill-deed is represented as aiding or assisting the murderer, and so 
becoming his accomplice. 

255. Hecate. A mysterious divinity represented as a threefold god- 
dess with three bodies or three heads. She is said to have been: (1) 
Selene or Luna in heaven; (2) Artemis or Diana on earth; (3) Proserpine 
or Proserpina in the lower world. From being an infernal deity she 
came to be regarded as a spectral being who taught sorcery and 
witchcraft. 

260. Extant. In existence, and so a true story. 

269. Why, let the stricken deer go weep. When badly wounded, the 
deer is said to retire from the herd to weep and die. So the king flees 
to hide his guilty face. 

270. The hart ungalled. The uninjured deer. This represents Ham- 
let, who, innocent of crime, remains to enjoy the rest of the Play. 

273. This. This Play of mine. 

Forest of feathers. An allusion to the actors of Shakespeare's time, 
who wore gaudy dresses, and in their caps sported plumes of feathers. 

274. Turn Turk. Change from Christian to infidel = to become a 
renegade or traitor. A common phrase of the period equivalent to the 
modern "go to the bad." 

275. Provincial roses. Eosettes or ribbons worn on the shoes. The 
name is either from Provence or Provins, the latter about forty miles 
from Paris. 

Razed shoes. Shoes cut to a distinctive pattern. 

276. A fellowship in a cry of players. A partnership in a company 
of actors. Cry = a pack of hounds: hence "a theatrical company." The 
word is used in hunting to signify a pack of hounds chosen so that their 
united barking may make a musical cry. 

277. Half a share. An allusion to the custom of the day, when actors 
were paid not by salaries, but by shares of the receipts, according to 
their abilities. 



NOTES 221 

279. Damon. The reference is to the proverbial friendship of Damon 
and Pythias, who lived in the fourth century B. C. The latter plotted 
against the life of the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse. Ke was condemned 
to die, and Damon offered to take his place till Pythias could arrange hia 
affairs, and agreed to die should his friend not appear upon the day 
appointed. Pythias, delayed, did not arrive until a few moments before 
the hour of execution. Dionysius was so struck by the fidelity of the 
friends that he pardoned Pythias, and begged to be admitted into their 
friendship. 

280. Realm dismantled. Hamlet suggests that Denmark had been 
robbed of a king (his father), who could be compared to Jove, and was 
replaced by his uncle, whom he styles a peacock. 

281. Jove. Jupiter, the king of gods. 

283. Rhymed. The rhyme to "was" (1. 280) would be "ass." 
Horatio suggests that this word would well describe Claudius. 

284. The ghost's word. The conduct of the conscience-stricken 
Claudius has convinced Hamlet that the tale told him by his father's 
ghost is true. 

290. Recorder. A kind Of flageolet or flute. Here it refers to those 
playing upon that instrument. 

306. Purgation. Here used in a double sense: (1) Legal, to clear 
oneself on oath; (2) Medical, adopted to cure the patient. 

309. Frame. Connected order. The words "start not so wildly" 
and "tame" suggest an allusion to the tying in a frame of a restive 
horse when it is being shod. 

341. Pickers and stealers. These hands. "To keep my hands from 
picking and stealing." 

344. You bar the door, etc. You deny yourself freedom from your 
Borrows by refusing to tell your cause of grief to your friend. 

354. Go about. Attempt. 

To recover the wind. A hunting term. The hunter lays his snare 
to the leeward of the game. Then, from the windward side, he stalks 
the animal, which scenting him endeavors to escape to leeward, and 
is snared. 

366. Ventages. The air-holes in the pipe of the recorder. Stops 
(1. 359) signifies the stopping of the holes with the fingers, thus produc- 
ing the different notes on the instrument. 

380. 'Sblood. An oath, "God's blood." 

392. Backed like a weasel. Its back is shaped like the back of a 
weasel. Polonius is so bent on humoring Hamlet that he pretends to see 
a likeness to the back of a weasel in the hump of a camel. 



222 HAMLET 



396. They fool me to the top of my bent. They humor me in what- 
ever I say. Hamlet is thus assured that he is regarded as being mad. 
It is a common practice in the treatment of lunatics to appear to agree 
with everything they say, in order to soothe, not irritate them. 

407. Soul of Nero. Nero, the infamous Eoman emperor, a monster 
of vice and cruelty. He gained his imperial purple through the intrigues 
of his mother, Agrippina, who exercised great influence and authority 
during the early years of his reign. Nero, becoming weary of his 
mother's influence, and urged by his mistress, Poppaea, caused Agrippina 
to be assassinated. Hamlet prays lest his wrath at his own father's 
murder should lead him to follow Nero's example and put the queen, 
his mother, to death. 

412. Give them seals. To affix seals to a document is to give it legal 
validity. So Hamlet prays that he may not in impulse be led to give 
effect to his words by committing the crime of matricide. 

Act III. Scene III 

11. Single and peculiar life. Single life, the life of an individual. 
Peculiar life, that he is a private person, with no public issues dependent 
upon his life. Eosencrantz is comparing Hamlet, a private individual, 
with the king, upon whose life the whole state, in a certain degree, 
depends. 

15. The cease of majesty. The king dying. 

20. Mortised. Joined with a mortise. To mortise is to cut out a 
portion of one piece of wood to receive a corresponding portion called 
the tenon or holder of another piece. Thus the two pieces are firmly 
united to each other. 

21. Annexment. That which is annexed. A word not found else- 
where in Shakespeare. 

24. Arm you. Prepare yourselves. 

25. Fear. Hamlet, the cause of the king's fear. 
30. Process. The full recital. 

Tax him home. Thoroughly probe or examine him, and get the whole 
truth out of it. 

34. Of vantage. From a position of advantage. Polonius will have 
the advantage of Hamlet in being able from his place of concealment to 
hear all that passes between Hamlet and his mother. 

38. Primal eldest curse. The curse of Cain. Cain was the eldest son 
of Adam, and the first murderer. 



NOTES 223 

62. The action lies. A legal phrase meaning "there is ground for 
commencing the suit at law." 

64. Even to the teeth, etc. Face to face with. 

69. Limed soul. A soul entangled in sin, as a bird caught in bird- 
lime. The more it struggles the more it becomes smeared with the sticky 
substance. 

81. Full of bread. Not fasting. 

84. In our circumstance. Judging from the circumstances, and accord- 
ing to our usual way of reasoning. 

Act III. Scene IV 

4. I'll silence me e'en here. I'll stop talking at this point (though 
I could say more). 

23. Dead, for a ducat. I will wager a ducat that he is dead. 

25. Is it the king? Hamlet naturally thinks it is the king who has 
concealed himself behind the tapestry. He acts upon impulse, but it is clear 
(see 1. 32) he intends to kill his uncle. 

36. Penetrable. Capable of receiving moral impressions. 

37. Braz'd. Become hard like brass. 

38. Proof. Impenetrable. 

44. Sets a blister. Brands as a wanton. Such persons were liable to 
be branded on the forehead. 

48. Rhapsody of words. Confused utterance of words. 

52. Index. Prologue or preface to a play. The index was formerly 
placed at the beginning of a book, not at the end. 

57. Mars. The Eoman god of war. Hamlet gives his father a mar- 
tial appearance in thus likening him to the god of war. 

58. Mercury. The herald of the gods, and as such regarded as 
the god of eloquence. Mercury's principal articles of attire were: (1) a 
helmet; (2) a herald's staff; (3) golden sandals, provided with wings 
at the ankles, which carried the god across land and sea with the 
rapidity of the wind. Hamlet represents his father as having the grace- 
ful pose of the god Mercury. 

59. Heaven-kissing. Beaching to the clouds. 
69. Hey-day. Frolicsome wildness. 

77. Hoodman-blind. Blindman 's buff. 

97. A Vice of kings. The Vice was one of the characters in the 
Morality Plays. He acted the part of the buffoon, and supplied the comic 
element. He was so named from the vicious or mischievous qualities 
attributed to him. He wore a motley or patch-work dress. The fool 



224 HAMLET 



or clown in later plays was developed from the Vice of these old Morality 
Plays. So ' ' Vice of kings " = a buffoon or clownish king. 

98. Cutpurse. A thief. The purse was worn outside, attached to the 
girdle. Thieves cut the purse away from the girdles. 

101. A king of shreds and patches. Eeferring to the motley dress 
worn by the Vice (1. 97). 

Enter Ghost. A stage direction. When the Ghost first appeared to 
Hamlet he was visible to others before he was seen by him. Now he is 
seen by Hamlet alone. So the ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth only. 

133. Habit. Note the differences between this appearance and the 
former visits of the Ghost. At the castle he appears to those on guard 
as well as to Hamlet; he is clad in complete armor, and stalks away. 
Now he appears to Hamlet alone, is clad in royal garb, and steals away. 

143. Flattering unction. Soothing ointment. 

171. Their scourge and minister. Their = of heaven. Scourge = 
the instrument to inflict the punishment decreed by heaven. Minister = 
the servant to obey heaven's commands. 

183. Faddock. A toad. Hamlet compares the queen's telling the 
king what had taken place to the custom of witches consulting toads, 
bats, and cats. 

Gib. A tomcat. It is a contraction of Gilbert, and was a name 
often given to a cat. 

187. The famous ape. An allusion to some fable well known in 
Shakespeare's time, but now forgotten. From the text we gather that 
it is a fable concerning an ape which, having seen birds fly out of a 
basket on a housetop, tried to imitate them and broke his neck. 

188. To try conclusions. To make experiment. 

197. Mandate. The commission of the king entrusted to Eosen- 
crantz and Guildenstern to be taken to England. 

200. Petard. A kind of mortar used for blowing open gates and 
doors. Hamlet pictures the engineer whose duty it was to place the 
petard in position against the gate, as being blown up by the premature 
explosion of his own petard. 

Act IV. Scene I 

1. Matter. Some important reason causing the sighs. 

3. Your son. Yours (the queen's), not mine (the king's). 
11. Brainish apprehension. Crazy notion. 
18. Kept short. On a short tether, under strict guard. 



NOTES 225 

Out of haunt. Apart from his companions, or away from the usual 
haunts of men. 

42. Blank. The mark or target. The mark in the target would be 
painted white. 

Act IV. Scene II 

12. Demanded of. Questioned by. 

13. Sponge. Taken from a saying of the Emperor Vespasian who, 
when found fault with for the appointment of rapacious officers, replied 
that he served his turn with such officers as with sponges, which, when 
they had absorbed their fill, were fittest to be pressed. 

26. A knavish speech, etc. This has become a proverb. 
33. Hide fox, etc. This is said to have been a name for the game of 
"hide and seek." 

Act IV. Scene III 

21. Politic worms. An allusion to the famous Diet of Worms, before 
which Martin Luther was summoned to appear, A. D. 1521. 

25. Variable. Various, referring to the different courses of a dinner. 

33. Progress. The technical term for a royal journey of state. 

40. Lobby. A passage or waiting room. 

47. At help. Ready to help, i. e. favorable. 

52. I see a cherub, etc. This has been variously interpreted: (1) 
The modern saying, A little bird told me; (2) I have an inkling of 
your intentions; (3) The angels are fighting on my side. 

61. That else leans on the affair. That the affair depends on. 

65. Free awe. The superior might of Denmark is now freely ac- 
knowledged by England. 

66. Coldly set. Regarded with indifference. 

68. Congruing. Calling upon him to do our bidding. 

Act IV. Scene IV 

15. The main. Either (1) the mainland of Poland, or (2) the main 
body of the Polish forces. 

21. Sold in fee. This means an absolute sale conveying all rights 
in the land. 

35. Large discourse. A wide range of intelligence and power of 
reason. 

39. Bestial oblivion. Forgetfulness, worthy only of an animal. 

49. Invisible event. An issue that cannot be foreseen. 

63. Continent. That which holds or contains anything. 



226 HAMLET 

Act IV. Scene V 

9. Collection, etc. To gather up the disjointed remarks of Ophelia 
and to endeavor to guess at their meaning. 

15. Ill-breeding minds. Minds ready to conceive mischief. 

25. Cockle hat and staff, etc. Alluding to the dress of a pilgrim. 
The cockle shell was worn in the hat as an emblem of one's intention to 
go to the Holy Land. 

38. True-love showers. Tears showered upon his grave by those who 
truly loved him. 

40. God 'ield you. God reward you. 

41. A baker's daughter. The reference is to a tradition, current in 
Gloucestershire, that our Savior one day entered a baker's shop and 
asked for bread. The mistress offered Him a loaf, but the daughter 
objected that it was too large. She offered Him a small one, which, 
however, began to swell, and became very large. At that moment, too, 
the daughter assumed the shape of an owl, as a punishment for her 
miserly conduct. 

43. Conceit upon. Thought of. 

48. Saint Valentine. A Eoman priest, who befriended the martyrs 
in the persecution under Claudius II., and in consequence was arrested, 
beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded, Feb. 14, 270. 

58. My coach. I. e. calling for her carriage. An anachronism. 

64. Single spies. Singly, one by one, as spies, not in companies. 

70. Hugger-mugger. Secretly, hurriedly, and without ceremony. 

81. Murdering-piece. The name given to a cannon or mortar when 
loaded with case shot, and which scattered bullets when fired, thus 
wounding many by a single discharge. 

83. My Switzers. My bodyguard. An allusion to the practice of 
the French kings in employing Swiss soldiers as their bodyguard. An 
anachronism. 

85. List. A barrier or boundary enclosing a space, and intended 
to prevent spectators encroaching on the ground railed off. 

87. Riotous head. Head = an armed force. Laertes is at the head 
of an armed rabble. 

96. Counter. A hunting term descriptive of hounds taking up a 
false trail, or running back upon the true one. 

106. There's such divinity, etc. The King faces Laertes in a digni- 
fied manner, secure, as he thinks, by Hamlet's absence. He talks with 
calm assurance, asserting the divine rights of kings. The Queen 



NOTES 227 

staunchly upholds her consort. She seizes Laertes to prevent his strik- 
ing the King, and asserts that the charge is false, for, of course, she 
knows Hamlet had slain Polonius. 

115. Conscience and grace. Morals and religion. 

117. Both the worlds. I. e. this world and the next. Laertes casts 
off all ties of duty in both worlds — viz., "his allegiance," and "vows" 
of fealty to the king in this world, "conscience and grace" in the next. 

120. My will. This may mean: (1) Only by the accomplishment 
of my purpose, or (2) My own change of purpose, for nothing else shall 
stay me. 

125. Sweepstake. A wager where the winner sweeps in all the 
money staked. 

129. Life-rendering. Giving up its own life. It was an old belief that 
the pelican pierced its breast and fed its young on its own blood. 

154. The wheel. Ophelia is uttering snatches of old ballads sung 
to the spinning wheel. 

158ff. We may note how Ophelia suits the flowers to the several per- 
sons: to Laertes she gives rosemary and pansies (remembrance and 
thoughts) ; to the King, fennel and columbine (flattery and ingratitude) ; 
to the Queen, rue (sorrow) ; to Hamlet, who is not present, daisies (un- 
faithfulness). 

161. Document. A lesson, instruction, example. 

166. With a difference. An heraldic term denoting the slight change 
in a coat-of-arms to distinguish the different members of the same family. 
The phrase is intended to point out that Ophelia and the Queen have dif- 
ferent causes for their respective sorrows: Ophelia mourns for her dead 
father; the Queen will meet with sorrow in punishment for her hasty 
marriage. 

170. Bonny sweet Robin. A well-known ballad on Eobin Hood. 

197. Hatchment. An escutcheon. Knights and persons of rank 
were buried with great ceremony, and "the sword, the helmet, tne 
gauntlet, spurs, and tabard were hung over the tomb." 

198. Formal ostentation. Customary ceremony. 

Act IV. Scene VI 

11. Let to know. Informed. 

27. Bore of the matter. Bore refers to some large piece of ordnance, 
discharging a heavy shot. Hamlet suggests that his words are too light 
for the occasion, like shot too small for the barrel of a large cannon. 



228 HAMLET 



Act IV. Scene VII 

7. Capital. Deserving the death penalty. 

10. Unsinew'd. Without nerve or sinew, and so lacking strength, 
sufficient for the purpose. 

15. Sphere. An allusion to the Ptolemaic system of astronomy which 
supposed the universe to be composed of hollow spheres, one within an- 
other. 

20. Spring. A reference to lime springs. These springs being 
impregnated with lime deposit a coating on substances placed therein, 
and so apparently petrify or turn them into stone. 

21. Gyves. Fetters for the ankles. 

22. Too slightly timbered. An arrow with too slender and light a 
shaft, so that its flight is strongly affected by the wind. 

28. Stood challenger. ' ' The allusion must be to the coronation cere- 
mony of the Emperor of Germany. While being crowned King of Hun- 
gary, on the Mount of Defiance at Presburg, he unsheathes the ancient 
sword of state and shaking it toward north, south, east, and west, chal- 
lenges the four corners of the earth to dispute his rights." — Moberly. 

46. More strange. The return was sudden, and that was strange; 
but the strangest thing to the King's mind was that Hamlet should 
return at all. 

50. Naked. Either (1) alone, without attendants, or' (2) having 
lost all his possessions. 

61. Checking. A metaphor taken from falconry. The falcon was 
said to "check" if it left the proper game to fly after some other bird. 

72. Parts. Qualities. The King means that Hamlet did not envy 
Laertes all his good qualities, but only his skill as a fencer. 

75. Siege. Seat. Unworthiest siege means "of lowest rank," i. e. 
taking the lowest seat at table. 

86. Incorpsed and demi-natured. Descriptive of a good horseman, 
who sits his horse as if he were part of him. 

92. Brooch. Any conspicuous ornament. 

95. Masterly report. He reported you a master of the art of fencing. 

116. Plurisy. This word must not be confounded with pleurisy, an 
affection of the pleura. Plurisy is derived from Latin plus, more, and 
signifies "excess" "too much." 

121. Spendthrift sigh. A sigh that wastes the vital flame. 

122. That hurts by easing. The sigh relieved the mind, but accord- 
ing to the popular notion, injured the strength of the body. 



NOTES 229 

126. Sanctuarize. To be a shelter or protection to a murderer. Cer- 
tain religious places were privileged to give protection to those who 
took refuge there. 

143. Simples. Herbs. 

150. Look through. Show itself. 

153. Blast in proof. Burst in the test, as a cannon. 

159. For the nonce. For the occasion. 

166. Hoar leaves. The silver-gray underside of willow leaves. 

172. Sliver. A branch broken off a tree. 

Act V. Scene I 

2. Wilfully. The body of one who has committed suicide is buried 
without the ceremonies of the Church. 

4. Crowner. Coroner, i. e. an officer under the Crown. 

9. Se offendendo. The clown 's mistake for se defendendo, which is 
the verdict in the ease of justifiable homicide. Se offendendo means "by 
attacking himself," and so describes an act of suicide, i 

12. Three branches. The clown defines the three parts of any deed : 
(1) The inception in the mind. (2) The resolution to act. (3) The actual 
performance. 

14. Goodman delver. The first clown is the sexton proper, the second 
is his assistant, a mere laborer employed to dig the graves. 

24. Crowner's quest. Coroner's inquest. 

35. Hold up. Continue. 

Adam's profession. I. e. that of a gardener, and so a "delver" 
or digger. 

"When Adam delved and Eve span 
Who was then the gentleman?" 

59. Unyoke. An expression borrowed from husbandry. When the 
day's work is done the team is unyoked or unharnessed. So the phrase 
means "then your task of guessing can be regarded as completed." 

68. Yaughan. An alehouse near the Globe Theater was kept by a 
Jew named Johan. It is suggested that "Yaughan" is a corruption of 
this name. 

69. In youth, etc. This verse which is inaccurately rendered is 
taken from "The Aged Lover Eenounceth Love," in Tottel's Miscellany, 
1557. 

76. Property of easiness. Long custom in burying the dead had 
rendered the gravedigger indifferent to the mournful task. 



230 HAMLET 

85. Cain's jaw-bone. An allusion to the old tradition that Cain 
slew his brother Abel with the jaw-bone of an ass. 

87. O'er-reaches. In the sense of "goes beyond," "surpasses." Ham- 
let means that the humble gravedigger is now the superior of the dead 
politician. It may also mean "reaches over for," in order to put it 
back into the ground. 

96. My Lady Worm's. This skull which was once my Lord such-a- 
one's (1. 92) is now my Lady Worm's. 

10L Loggats. Diminutive of log, a small piece of wood. Loggats 
was a game which somewhat resembled bowls. 

120. Pair of indentures. Such agreements are always drawn up and 
signed in duplicate, each party to the agreement retaining a copy. 

152. By the card. Precisely or exactly, taking this meaning from: 
(1) A ship's chart, which would be accurately drawn; or (2) A card of 
etiquette, containing precise instructions on behavior; or (3) The actor's 
card on which his part was exactly written out. 

180. Thirty years. This makes Hamlet thirty. But at the begin- 
ning of the play it is clear that Shakespeare thinks of him as much 
younger. Such inconsistencies in the reckoning of time are common in 
Shakespeare, who in such matters cares only for dramatic effect. 

225. Alexander. Son of Philip, King of Macedon. His conquests 
over the Persians and in Asia Minor gained for him the name of Alex- 
ander the Great. Born B. C. 356; died B. C. 323. 

250. Doubtful. I. e. no evidence to show if Ophelia's death had 
been accidental or that she had committed suicide. 

252. Unsanctified. Unconsecrated. Alluding to the ancient practice 
of refusing suicides burial in consecrated ground. 

256. Strewments. Strewing her grave with flowers. 

The bringing home. The body of Ophelia is carried to the grave 
(her last home), to the sad tolling of the funeral bell, as a bride is welcomed 
to her home by the merry chiming of the wedding bells. 

276. Pelion. A lofty range of mountains in Thessaly. Near the 
summit was the cave of the centaur Chiron. On Pelion was felled the tim- 
ber, with which the ship Argo was built. 

299. Esil. Variously interpreted as: 1. The name of some river, as 
a. The Yssel, a branch of the Ehine; b. The Weissel. c. The Nile, sug- 
gested by the mention of the crocodiles. 2. Eisel = Vinegar. 

306. Ossa like a wart. Cause a mountain to appear no larger than 
a wart. Ossa, a celebrated mountain in Thessaly, was connected with 
Pelion on the S. E., and divided from Olympus on the N. W. by the 
Vale of Tempe. 



NOTES 231 

310. Golden couplets. The dove lays but two eggs. On leaving the 
shell the young are covered with golden down. 

Disclosed. The technical term for the coming out of the young bird 
from the shell ; the equivalent of ' ' born. ' ' 

320. Living monument. The king may be referring to an enduring 
monument to be placed over the grave, or he may mean that the death 
of Hamlet shall be metaphorically the monument. 

Act V. Scene II 

6. Mutines in the bilboes. Mutines, mutineers. Bilboes, the name 
for the ship's prison, and also for the stocks of fetters used on board 
ship. 

11. Rough-hew. I. e. as a carpenter first works a piece of timber, 
before finally planing and smoothing it to exact shape. 

13. Scarfed. A verb formed from the noun. 

36. Yeoman's service. The Yeomen (see Glossary) were the small 
freeholders of England. The allusion is to the part taken by English 
yeomen as archers and infantry in the wars of the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries. The phrase has become proverbial for "good and 
faithful service." 

42. A comma 'tween their amities. Blending, close connection be- 
tween England and Denmark. The idea is connection not separation. 
"A comma is the note of connection and continuity of sentences; the 
period is the note of abruption and disjunction." — Johnson. 

47. Not shriving-time allowed. I. e. their death was immediate, with 
no time even for confession. 

53. Changeling never known. Hamlet compares the substitution of 
his letter for that of the King to the supposed practice of fairies, who 
were believed to take away very beautiful children at their birth, and 
to replace them with ugly ones. The child brought by the fairy was 
termed a changeling. 

77. Image of my cause. Hamlet can sympathize with Laertes in 
his grief and indignation, for he knows him to be in a similar case to 
himself. Hamlet had lost his father, murdered; so had Laertes lost his 
father, Polonius. Both Hamlet and Laertes mourned for Ophelia, the 
one for his love, and the other for his sister. 

84. Water-fly. A fly which skims up and down a stream, descriptive 
of, Osrie, a mere trifler or hanger on at Court. 

96. Your bonnet to its right use. Put on your cap, and do not 
stand before me uncovered like an obsequious courtier. 



232 HAMLET 

114. Great showing. Fine appearance. 

115. Card or calendar. Johnson points out the distinction between 
the card and the calendar: Card or chart, by which to direct his con- 
duct; calendar, by which to choose his time. 

159. Hangers. The straps by which the sword is attached to the belt. 

177. Twelve for nine. The terms of the wager. The King wagers 
that Laertes will hit Hamlet twelve times before Hamlet will hit Laertes 
nine times. 

184. Breathing time of day. The time of day taken up in exercise. 

196. Lapwing. The lapwing is said to run away before it is entirely out 
of its shell. The figure, as used here, is not exactly clear. It refers, per- 
haps, to Osric's forwardness. Hamlet terms Osric a lapwing; i. e., calls 
him a forward fellow. 

200. Outward habit of encounter. Outside polish of manner, veneer 
of courtesy. 

201. Yesty collection. Frothy opinions gathered from anywhere. 

202. Carries them through. "Wins them the approval of. 
211. Fitness speaks. Convenience summons. 

216. In happy time. Just at the right time to witness our 'fencing 
match. 

218. Gentle entertainment. Gracious treatment. 

224. At the odds. I. e. of 12 to 9 (1. 177). Good fencer though 
Laertes be, Hamlet is confident he can meet him on the above terms. 

289. An union. A very precious pearl. (See Glossary.) To swallow 
a pearl in a draught of wine was an extravagance not uncommon in 
ancient times. 

They change rapiers. A stage direction. This is brought about 
differently by various actors. (1) Mutual disarmament, each picking 
up the nearest rapier and thus getting his opponent's weapon. (2) 
Hamlet disarms Laertes and then courteously offers Laertes his own 
weapon. (3) Laertes rushes into close quarters and seizes Hamlet's 
rapier by the hilt. The proper way to meet this attack would be for 
Hamlet to seize the hilt of Laertes' sword, thus the exchange is made. 

320. Have at you. I'll begin, I'll hit you. 

353. Mutes. Silent spectators. Most of the courtiers were, of 
course, in ignorance of the plot against Hamlet's life. 

358. The unsatisfied. I. e. those who could not understand Hamlet's 
action in stabbing the King. The dying Hamlet entreats Horatio to 
explain his action so that all may see what cause he had for the deed. 

359. Roman. An allusion to the Romans of old, who preferred death 
to a life of disgrace, e. g., Cato. 



NOTES 233 

362. Wounded name. Unless the truth is known my name will live 
forever stained with the crime of the king's assassination. 
382. Cries on. Cried out. 

399. Unnatural acts. The murder of Hamlet's father, the hasty mar- 
riage of his mother, the plots of the King against Hamlet. 

400. Accidental judgments. The death of Polonius, stabbed by 
Hamlet in mistake for the King, the death of the Queen on drinking 
the poisoned cup intended for Hamlet. 

Casual slaughters. The deaths of Eosencrantz and Guildenstern. 

401. Cunning. The death of Laertes, his own device recoiling on 
himself. 

Forced. The death of the King, well merited by his crimes. 

402. Upshot. A term in archery — the last shot. The death of Ham- 
let was the final act in the drama of murder and death. 

407. Eights of memory. Eights which the Danes must remember 
are well founded. Fortinbras is alluding to his claim to succeed to the 
throne of Denmark, now that both the King and Hamlet are dead. 



GRAMMATICAL NOTES 

On reading the works of Elizabethan authors we wonder at the many 
points of difference in grammar and meaning between their English and 
the English of today. Yet, there is really no cause for surprise. The great 
"renascence" had just taken place, and the ancient classics were being 
studied in England as they had never before been studied. Changes in 
structure and meaning in the language of Chaucer were demanded and 
introduced, but as old prejudices die hard the result for a time was chaos. 
Neither the devotees of the old forms nor the advocates of the new 
would give way, so both reigned, but neither was supreme. Language is 
given to interpret thought, and the result of the conflict between the old 
and the new was a language clear in thought but doubtful in expression. 
Such must be the conditions in all transitional periods. Hence, though the 
Elizabethan English differs in many respects from the English of today, it 
was and is intelligible. The change from the old styles through the Eliza- 
bethan English, to our present forms was slow indeed, but changes that are 
to endure are not wrought in a generation. 

In this may be found the raison d'etre of the so-called grammatical 
difficulties of Shakespeare. Besides, in those days printed books were less 
common than they are now, and even today spoken language is frequently 
less grammatical than that which is written. 

Adjectives Used as Adverbs 

'Tis bitter cold (I. i. 8). Bitterly. 
Goes slow and stately by them (I. ii. 201). Slowly. 
Very like (I. ii. 235). Likely. 
2Vew-hatch'd (I. iii. 65). Newly-hatched. 

How 'prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows (I. iii. 116). Prodigally. 
Grow not instant old (I. v. 76). Instantly. 
This is wondrous strange (I. v. 146). Wonderfully. 
You shall do marvellous wisely, good Eeynaldo (II. i. 3). Marvellously. 
I went round to work (II. ii. 140). Eoundly. 
You say right (II. ii. 415). Eightly. 
We'll have a speech straight (II. ii. 461). Straightway. 
I am myself indifferent honest (III. i. 121). Fairly. 

234 



GEAMMATICAL NOTES 235 

Or come tardy off (III. ii. 28). Tardily. 

Excellent V faith (III. ii. 99). Excellently. 

He will come straight (III. iv. 1). Straightway. 

iVew-lighted (III. iv. 59). Newly-lighted. 

Speak fair, and bring the body (IV. i. 36). Fairly, openly. 

Follow her close (IV. v. 61). Closely. 

It shall as level to your judgment pierce (IV. v. 134). Directly. 

And do't the speedier (IV. vi. 33). The more speedily. 

It falls right (IV. vii. 69). Eightly. 

It is indifferent cold (V. ii. 101). Indifferently. 

Adjectives Used as Nouns 

A list of lawless resolutes (I. i. 98). Eesolute men. 

I shall in all my best obey you (I. ii. 120). Best efforts. 

In the dead vast and middle of the night (I. ii. 197). Vastness. 

In few, Ophelia (I. iii. 126). Few words. 

'Twas caviare to the general (II. ii. 468). The majority. 

Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss (IV. v. 18). Misfortune. 

Adjectives Used as Verbs 

And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire (I. v. 72). To make pale. 
All his visage wann'd (II. ii. 591). Became wan. 
We fat all creatures else to fat us (IV. iii. 23). Fatten. 
But since he is better 'd (V. ii. 280). Has improved. 

Nouns Used as Adjectives 

Maiden presence (I. iii. 121). 
Begion kites (II. ii. 618). 
Music vows (III. i. 161). 
Mountain snow (IV. v. 34). 
Coronet weeds (IV. vii. 171). 

Nouns Used as Adverbs 

We doubt it nothing (I. ii. 41). Not at all. 

This something settled matter (III. i. 178). Somewhat. 

Discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must (III. ii. 167). In no wise. 

Nouns Used as Verbs 

SharTced up a list of lawless resolutes (I. i. 98). 
To business with the king (I. ii. 37). 



236 HAMLET 

Cast thy nighted colour off (I. ii. 68). 
The heavens shall bruit again (I. ii. 127). Eesound. 
Look thou character (I. iii. 59). Engrave. 
It doth posset and curd (I. v. 52). 
We do sugar o'er the devil himself (III. i. 48). 
It out-herods Herod (III. ii. 16). 

You shall nose him as you go up the stairs (IV. iii. 39). Smell. 
Bepast them with my blood (IV. v. 130). Feed them on. 
My sea-gown scarfed about me (V. ii. 13). Wrapped about me as a 
ecarf. 

Verbs Used as Nouns 

Without the sensible and true avouch (I. i. 57). 

Intransitive Verbs Used Transitively 

So nightly toils the subject of the land (I. i. 72). Makes the subject 
to toil. 

If with too credent ear you list his songs (I. iii. 30). Listen to. 
Haste me to know 't (I. v. 29). Make haste to acquaint me with it. 

Verbs Used as Adjectives 
As hush as death (II. ii. 519). 

Abstract Words Used in a Concrete Sense 

Needful in our loves (I. i. 173). On account of our love. 
Your better wisdoms (I. ii. 15). Judgment. 

You cannot speak of reason (I. ii. 44). Name a reasonable request. 
My necessaries are embark 'd (I. iii. 1). Needful things. 
Between you and your love (III. ii. 245). Lover. 

'Tis meet that some more audience than a mother (III. iii. 32). Per- 
sons hearing. 

With this contagion (IV. vii. 146). Poisonous drug. 

Omission of the Relative 

That father lost (I. ii. 90). Who was. 

And they in France (I. iii. 73). That are. 

What is't, Ophelia, he hath said to you (I. iii. 88) 1 That. 

Your party in converse, him you would sound (II. i. 40). Whom. 

And all we mourn for (II. ii. 152). Whom. 

Those ills we have (III. i. 78). Which. 



GEAMMATICAL NOTES 237 

To draw apart the body he hath kill 'd (IV. i. 24). Which. 

That we would do (IV. vii. 117). Which. 

We'll put on those shall praise your excellence (IV. vii. 130). Who. 

The fame the Frenchman gave you (IV. vii. 131). Which. 

There is a willow grows aslant a brook (IV. vii. 165). Which. 

The corse they follow (V. i. 243). Which. 

Omission of the Subject 

Sends out arrests (II. ii. 67). He. 

And now remains (II. ii. 100). It. 

But, with a crafty madness, keeps aloof (III. i. 8). He. 

None wed the second but who kill'd the first (III. ii. 181). He. 

Omission op Verb op Motion 

Away, I do beseech you, both away (II. ii. 171). Go. 

Shall we to the court (II. ii. 274). Go. 

He shall with speed to England (III. i. 174). Go. 

Shall along with you (III. iii. 4). Go. 

I must to England (III. iv. 193). Go. 

The Double Negative 

It is not, nor it cannot come to good (I. ii. 157). 

Nor no matter in the phrase (II. ii. 475). 

Nor 'tis not strange (III. ii. 198). 

Nor did you nothing hear (III. iv. 131). 

Not this, by no means, that I bid you do (III. iv. 177). 

Double Comparatives and Superlatptes 

Come you more nearer (II. i. 11). 
O most best, believe it (II. ii. 122). 
Show itself more richer (III. ii. 304). 
The worser part of it (III. iv. 155). 
More rawer breath (V. ii. 131). 

Frequent Use of the Nominative Absolute 

Yet now, I must confess, that duty done (I. ii. 54). 
i?is greatness weigh' d, his will is not his own (I. iii. 17). 
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried (I. iii. 62). 
The great man down, you mark his favourite flies (III. ii. 202). Sup- 
ply being. 



238 HAMLET 

Else no creature seeing (III. ii. 253). 
No leisure bated (V. ii. 23). 
The changeling never known (V. ii. 53). 
The gentleman willing (V. ii. 185). 
Things standing thus unknown (V. ii. 363). 

Eis for "Its'* 

Nor any unproportion 'd thought his act (I. iii. 60). 

Since nature cannot choose his origin (I. iv. 26). 

The dram of base ... to his own scandal (I. iv. 36). 

As level as the cannon to his blank (IV. i. 42). 

Acts little of his will (IV. v. 108). 

That, as the star moves not but in his sphere (IV. vii. 15). 

Than settled age his sables and his weeds (IV. vii. 79). 

Did Hamlet so envenom with his envy (IV. vii. 102). 

There is a willow . . . that shows his hoar leaves (IV. vii. 165). 

Singular Verb with Plural Subject 

For on his choice depends the safety and health of the whole state 
(I. iii. 20-21). 

His sickness, age, and impotence, was falsely borne in hand (II. ii. 
66, 67). 

There's letters sealed (III. iv. 195). 

Your fat king, and your lean beggar, is but variable service (IV. 
iii. 24, 25). 

There's tricks i' the world (IV. v. 5). 

There is pansies, that's for thoughts, etc. (IV. v. 159). 

That's two of his weapons (V. ii. 155). 

Plural Verb with Singular Subject 

More than the scope 
Of these dilated articles allow (I. ii. 37, 38). 
Which now, like fruit unripe, sticks on the tree; 
But fall, unshaken, when they mellow be (III. ii. 188, 189). 
The violence of either grief or joy 
Their own enactures with themselves destroy (III. ii. 194, 195). 

Archaic Forms of the Past Participle 

It would be spoke to (I. i. 45). Spoken. 

Our state to be disjoint and out of frame (I. ii. 20). Disjointed. 



GRAMMATICAL NOTES 239 

We have here writ (I. ii. 27). Written. See also I. ii. 221 and IV. 
v. 124. 

Who, impotent and bed-rid (I. ii. 29). Bed-ridden. 

But that I am forbid (I. v. 13). Forbidden. 

There o'erxook in's rouse (II. i. 56). Overtaken. 

Meantime, we thank you for your well-took labour (II. ii. 83). Well- 
taken. 

And I, of ladies most deject and wretched (III. i. 160). Dejected. 

For, O, for, O, the hobby-horse is forgot (III. ii. 138). Forgotten. 
See also III. iv. 194. 

That hath eat of a king (IV. iii. 29). Eaten. 

The doors are broke (IV. v. 97). Broken. 

That we can let our beard be shook with danger (IV. vii. 32). Shaken. 

Compound Words 
Elizabethan writers freely coined compound words. 

By their oppress 'd and fear-surprised eyes (I. ii. 202). 

And the swaggering up-spring reels (I. iv. 9). 

Most lasar-like (I. v. 56). 

And down-gyved to his ankle (II. i. 76). 

A dull and muddy -mettled rascal (II. ii. 605). 

But I am pig eon-liver' d (II. ii. 616). 

To hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow (III. ii. 10). 

It out-herods Herod (III. ii. 16). 

New-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill (III. iv. 59). 

And, like the kind life-rendering pelican (IV. v. 129). 

As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured (IV. vii. 86). 

As to peace-parted souls (V. i. 261). 

Like wonder-wounded hearers (V. i. 280). 

Three liberal-conceited carriages (V. ii. 171). 

But it is such a kind of gain-giving (V. ii. 229). 

Words Which Have Changed in Meaning 

Of unimproved metal hot and full (I. i. 96). Untutored. 

It shows a will most incorrect to heaven (I. ii. 95). Unsubmissive. 

Set your entreatments at a higher rate (I. iii. 122). Favors. 

With arms encumbered thus (I. v. 156). Folded. 

Their own enactures with themselves destroy (III. ii. 195). Resolutions. 

As from the body of contraction plucks (III. iv. 46). Marriage. 

More than their even Christian (V. i. 32). Fellow. 

To keep my name ungored (V. ii. 266). Unstained. 



240 HAMLET 



Words Which Have Changed in Fokm 

He smote the sledded PolacJc on the ice (I. i. 63). Pole. 

Thereto spurr'd on by a most emulate pride (I. i. 83). Emulous. 

And even the like precurse of fierce events (I. i. 121). Precursor. 

Unto our climatures and countrymen (I. i. 125). Climates. 

Holding a weak supposed of our worth (I. ii. 18). Estimate. 

Nor windy suspiration of forced breath (I. ii. 79). Sighs. 

The perfume and suppliance of a minute (I. iii. 9). That which supplies. 

Contagious blastments are most imminent (I. iii. 42). Blights. 

And 'gins to pale his uneffeetual fire (I. v. 72). Ineffectual. 

What DansTcers are in Paris (II. i. 7). Danes. 

Baked and impasted with the parching streets (II. ii. 492). Made into 
a paste. 

The cease of majesty (III. iii. 15). Decease. 

Each small annexment (III. iii. 21). What is annexed. 

That sense is apoplex'd (III. iv. 73). Stricken with apoplexy. 

If thou canst mutine in a matron's bones (III. iv. 83). Cause a mutiny. 

And hit the woundless air (IV. i. 44). Incapable of being wounded. 

No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarise (IV. vii. 126). Be a sane- 
tuary to. 

Why, even in that was heaven ordinant (V. ii. 48). Ordaining. 

And will no reconcilement (V. ii. 263). Eeconciliation. 



VERSIFICATION 

The ordinary line of Blank Verse or Iambic Pentameter consists of five 
feet of two syllables, each with the accent on the second syllable. 

[A foot with the accent on the first syllable is called a Trochee.'] 

"Was false' |ly borne' | in hand',| — sends out'] arrest's| II. ii. 67. 
On Fort'|inbras';| which he',| in brief/ 1 obeys' || II. ii. 68. 

A Trochee often occurs, especially as the first foot of a line. 

"Looks' it | not like'| the king'?! mark it',] Horat'io|| I. i. 43. 
"Cost'ly | thy hab'|it as'| thy purse'| can buy'||" I. iii. 70. 
"Mar'ry,| I'll teach' | you: think' | yourself | a baby'||" I. iii. 105. 

Examples of a Trochee not as the first foot of a line. 

" Affect' |ion! poo'h! | you speak' | like' a | green girl' j | " I. iii. 101. 

"A broth'|er's mur'|der'! | Pray', can | I not'||" III. iii. 39. 

An extra syllable is often added before a pause, especially at the end 
of a line. 

"But not' | expressed' | in fan'|cy; rich', | not gaudi/'||" I. iii. 71. 
"And that' | in way' | of caut'|ion — I'| must tell' you\\" I. iii. 95. 
"You' do | not und'|ersta'nd | yourself | so clearly' \\" I. iii. 96. 

Example of extra syllables in the middle of a line. 

"Had he' | been vanquisher; j as, by'l the same'| covenant' ||" L i. 93. 

Accented monosyllables and prepositions. Sometimes an unemphatic 
monosyllable is allowed to stand in an emphatic place, and to receive an 
accent. 

"So please'| you, some'|thing touch'|ing the'\ Lord Ham'let||" I. iii. 89. 

Two extra syllables are sometimes allowed, if unemphatic, before a 
pause, especially at the end of a line. 

"My lord,' | I came' | to see' | your fa'|ther's fu'neral\\" I. ii. 175. 
"And meant' | to wreck' | thee; but',j beshrew'| my ^eaYousy || " II. i. 
109. 

241 



242 HAMLET 



Prefixes are dropped in the following words: 

'Count for ' ' account. ' ' 'Eaviour for ' ' behaviour. ' ' 

'Gain- giving for ' ' against giving. ' ' 'Noyance for ' ' annoyance. ' ' 
'Gainst for ' ' against. ' ' 'Tend for ' ' attend. ' ' 

B frequently softens or destroys a following vowel. The vowel being 
nearly lost in the burr which follows the r. 

"And then', | they say',| no spirit' | dares stir'[ abroad'|| " I. i. 161. 
Ham. Perchance', I 'twill walk' | again. | 
Hor. I warrant' | it will'|| I. ii. 242. 

"Be thou'| a spirit' | of health', | or gob'|lin dam'n'd|| " I. iv. 40. 

Whether and ever, and similar words pronounced as one syllable. 

"Whether love'| lead for'|tune, or'| else for'|tune love'||" III. ii. 201. 
"But never 7 1 the offence'. | To bear'| all smooth' | and even'|| " IV. iii. 7. 
' ' To fust' | in us' | unused'. | Now whether' | it be'| | » ' IV. iv. 38. 

I in the middle of a trisyllable, if unaccented, is frequently dropped. 

"Himself'| the prim'|rose path' | of dall'|(i)ance tre'ads||" I. iii. 50. 
"Unsift'|ed in'| such pe'r(i)l|ous cir'|eumstance'|j" I. iii. 102. 

An unaccented syllable of a polysyllable may sometimes be softened and 
almost ignored. 

"A lit'|tle ere'| the migh't|iest Jul'|ius fell'||" I. i. 114. 

"The graves'| stood ten'|ant|Zess, and'|the sheet'|ed dead'||" I. i. 115. 

"As fits' | a king's' | remem'|brance. 

Both'| your ma,yesties\\ " II. ii. 26. 
"To give'|the assay' | of arms' | against' | your maj'esty||" II. ii. 71. 

In pronunciation polysyllabic names often receive but one accent at the 
end of the line. 

"Thou art' | a schol'| ar; spea'k | to it',| Hora'tio\\" I. i. 42. 

"I pray' | thee, stay' | with us';|go not' | to Wit'tenberg\\ " I. ii. 119. 

Or we may scan — 

"I pray thee, (prithee) stay' | with us';|go not' | to Witt'|enber'g|| " 

"Than may' | be giv'|en you'.| In few',| Oph'elia\\" I. iii. 126. 

"When thou'| liest howl'|ing. What'| the fair' | Oph'elia\\" V. i. 265. 

Examples in the middle of a line. 

"How now 7 , | Hora'tio!\ you trem'|ble, and'| look pale'j | " Li. 53. 

"Thrift, thrift', | Rora'tio! \ the fun'|eral'| baked-meats'||" I. ii. 179. 



VEBSIFICATION 243 



Words in which a light vowel is preceded by a heavy vowel or diphthong 
are frequently contracted. 

"We do' | it wrong',| being so'| majes'|ic'al|| ,, I. i. 143. 
"Of en'|trance to'| a quarr'|el; but',| being in'||" I. iii. 66. 
"That you'', | at such'| times seeing' | me, nev'|er shall' || " I. v. 155. 
"Will' so | bestow' | ourselves', | that, seeing', \ unseen' || " III. i. 33. 

Ed following d or t is often not pronounced, even if written. ' 

"I had'| not quot'ed him:| I fear'd'| he did'| but trifle'||" II. i. 108. 

Er and or final pronounced with a kind of "burr," giving the effect 
of an additional syllable. 

"Lends' the | tongue vows' :| these blaz'|es, daugh'|ter'j| " T. iii. 117. 
"To speak'| of hor'|rors', — | he eomes'| before' me|| " II. i. 80. 
"A broth'|er's mur|der!| Pray', can | I not'||" III. iii. 39. 

The terminative ion, at the end of a line, is frequently pronounced as 
two syllables. The i is also sometimes pronounced in such words as soldier, 
marriage, conscience, etc.; and the e in surgeon, vengeance, etc. 

"As you'| are friends',| seholars',| and sol'|diers'|| " I. v. 123. 

"Do not'| forget':| this vis'|ita't|ion'|| " III. iv. 108. 

"With sor'e | distract' | ion'. | What I'j have done'?j| " V. ii. 246. 

Fear, dear, year, fire, and other monosyllables ending in r or re, pre- 
ceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are frequently pronounced as dissyl- 
ables. 

" Hor. Where', | my lord' f | 

Ham. In' my | mind's' eye,| Hora'tio|| " I. ii. 184. 

"You must'| not take'| for fi'|re. From'| this time'|| " I. iii. 120. 
"Fear'| me not': — | withdraw',| I hear'| him coming'||" III. iv. 7. 

Monosyllables pronounced as dissyllables. 

1. Exclamations 

2. Those emphasized by position or antithesis 

3. Those containing long vowels or diphthongs 

4. Those containing a vowel followed by r. 
"Where'fore | should you'| do this' 9 1 

Ay', | my lord'||" II. i. 34. 
"Thence' to | a watch' ;| thence' | into'| a weak'ness||" II. ii. 149. 
"The devil' | himself. | 

O', 'tis | too tr'uelj how sm'art||" III. i. 49. 



244 HAMLET 



"One wor'|d more',| good lady'.| 

What shall' 1 1 do'?||" III. iv. 176. 
"I'll be'| with you straight'.| Go'| a lit'|tle befo're||" IV. iv. 30. 
"To hide' | the slain' #| 0',| from this'| time for'th||" IV. iv. 64. 
"Will you' | be ruled' | by me'?| 

Ay' ; | my lo'rd| | " IV. vii. 58. 
Accent: 

1. Words in which the accent is nearer the end than with us. 
Aspect'. "Tears' in | his eyes',| distract'|ion in's'| aspect'|| " II. ii. 592. 
Canon'ised. "Why thy' | canon' |ized bones', | hearsed' | in death'||" I. 

iv. 47. 

Chara'cter. "Look' thou | char act' |er. Give' | thy though'ts | no 
tong'ue|| " I. iii. 59. 

Compact' (noun). "Did slay' | this Fort'inbras ; | who, by'| a seal"d| 
compact' 1 1 " Li. 86. 

Comrade'. ' ' Of each'| new-hatch 'd',| unfledged'| comrade'. | Beware'| | ' ' 
I. iii. 65. 

Contra' ry. ' ' Our wills' | and fates' j do so'| contra' |ry run'| | ' ' III. ii. 209. 

Converse'. Your par'|ty in' | converse', | him you' | would sound'||" II. 
i. 40. 

Purpo'rt. "And with' | a look' | so pit'|eous in' | purport' 1 1 " II. i. 78. 

Becords' (noun). "I'll wipe' | away' | all triv'|ial fond'| records'|| " I. 
v. 81. 

Eeve'nue. "That no'| reve'|nue hast', | but thy' | good spirits' j | ' ' III. 
ii. 64. 

2. Words in which the accent is nearer the beginning than with us. 
Ab'surd. No, let' | the cand'|ied tongue' | lick ab'|surd pomp||" III. 

ii. 66. 

Co'mplete. "That thou', | dead corse', | again',] in comp'|lete steel'||" 
I. iv. 52. 

En'giner. "For 'tis | the sport',| to have'| the en'giner||" III. iv. 199. 
So Abbott, but it is better to scan "enginer" with two accents. 

"For 'tis | the sport'| to have'| the en'|giner'||" 

Impor'tuned. "My lord', | he hath' | import' |uned me' | with love'||" I. 
iii. 110. 

Ob'scure. "His means' | of death', | his ob'|scure fun'|eral'|| " IV. v. 
196. 

Perse 'ver. "To do'| obse'|quious sorrow' :| but to'| perse'ver||" I. ii. 92. 



VEESIFICATION 245 



Pi' oner. "A worth' |y pi'oner — | Once more'| remove', | good friends' || " 
I. v. 145. 

Se'cure. "Up on'| my se'|cure hour' | thy un'|cle stole'||" I. v. 45. 

A Proper Alexandrine (i. e. a line with six accents) is rarely found in 
Shakespeare. 

An example of Alexandrine. 

"And now' | by winds' | and waves' | my life'|less limbs' | are tossed'||" 
— Deyden. 

Apparent Alexandrines. 

"Had he' | been van'quisher ; | as, by' | the same'| covenant' || " I. i. 93. 

"Hyper' | ion to'| a sa'tyr:|so lov'|ing to'| my mo'ther||" I. ii. 140. 

Hok. ' ' Hail' to | your lord' ship ! | 

Ham. I am (I'm) glad' j to see' | you well'jj" I. ii. 159. 

"Unto that'| element': | but long'| it could'| not be'||" IV. vii. 179. 
' ' Unto that element ' ' is contracted into ' ' Unt ' that, " "el 'ment. ' ' 
"I'll be'| your foil',] La'ertes: in | mine ig'|norance'|| " V. ii. 271. 

Many apparent Alexandrines are Trimeter Couplets, or two verses of 
three accents each. 

"Whereof | he is' | the head' : 1 1 then', if | he says' | he loves' you||" I. 
iii. 24. 

"To what' | I shall' | unfold' || 

Speak'; I | am bound' | to hear'||" I. v. 6. 
"God will'|ing, shall' | not lack'.j | Let us'| go in'| toge'ther|| " I. v. 169. 
"Contag'|ion to'| this world': || now could' | I drink' | hot blood'||" III. 
ii. 403. 

"Ov'er | the nast'|y sty', — 

O, speak' | to me'| no more'||" III. iv. 93. 
"To whom' | do you'| speak this'?|| 

Do you' | see no' | thing there'||" III. iv. 129. 
"Nor did' | you no' | thing hear"?| 

No, no'|thing but'| ourselves'. 1 1 " III. iv. 131. 
"Of your' | dear fa'|ther's death', || is't writ'| in your'| revenge'||" IV. 
v. 124. 

Amphibious section. When a verse consists of two parts uttered by 
two speakers, the latter part of the first verse is frequently the former part 
of the following verse, being, as it were, amphibious. 

Ham. You'll' I reveal' it.|| 

Hob. Not l',\ my lord',\ by heaven' !\ 



246 HAMLET 

Mar. Nor I', I my Lord' 1 1 I. v. 101. 

Queen. Did he'\ receive' \ you well'$\\ 

Eos. Most like' | a gent'leman'|| " III. i. 10-11. 

Sometimes a section will, on the one side, form part of a regular line, 
and on the other, part of a Trimeter Couplet. 

Hok. Of mine' | own eyes'. || 
Mar. Is it'\ not UTce'\ the King'?\\ 

Hor. As thou' | art to'| thyself 1 1 " I. i. 58-59. 
Oph. In hon'|oura'|ble fas'hion|| 

Pol. Ay, I fash'ion | you' may | call' it; | go' to, | go' to| | " I. iii. 111-12. 
Mar. No', it | is struck'. | 

Hor. Indeed' ?\ I heard' \ it «o*':||it then' | draws near' | the sea'- 
son]| I. iv. 4-5. 

In the second line we may take indeed as a detached interjection as re- 
gards that line; i. e. the second portion of the section. 

Lines of four accents. 

1 ' My father' !— | methinks'| I see'| my father'| | " I. ii. 183. 
"As he' | would draw' it.| Long stay'd | he so'|| " II. i. 87. 
"Must give' | us pause' :| there's' the | respect' ||" III. i. 65. 
There are many more examples of this kind. 

Lines are often "broken up between two speakers. 

Mar. It' is | offend' |ed. 

Ber. See', I it stalks' | away'|| I. i. 50. 

Ghost. Mark' me.| 

Ham. I will'. | 

Ghost. My hour'| is al'|most come'|| I. v. 2. 

Interruptions are sometimes not allowed to interfere with the complete- 
ness of the verse. 

Pol. Pray' you,| be round' | with him'.| 

Ham. [Within.} Mother, mother, mother! 

Queen. I'll war'|rant you'|| III. iv. 5-6. 

Scan the following lines thus: 

' ' I '11' | speak to it',| though hell'| itself | should gape'| | ' ' I. ii. 244. 
"Let' it | be ten' | able in'| your si'|lenee still' j j ' ' I. ii. 247. 
"The sa'|fety'| and health'j of this' | whole state'|| " I. iii. 21. 



VEKSIFICATION 247 



Scan safety as a trisyllable. The Folio reads sanctity, so sanity has 
been suggested as an emendation for safety. 

"Bear 't', that | the oppos'|ed may'| beware'| of thee'||" I. iii. 67. 

"Have' of | your aud'|ience been' | most free' | and boun'teous|| " I. 
iii. 93. 

"Which' are | not sterling'. | Ten'der | yourself | more dearly'||" I. iii. 
107. 

"Why thy' | canon' |ized bones',] hearsed' | in death'||" I. iv. 47. 

"I had'| not quoted him':| I fear'd'| he did'j but trifle'||" II. i. 108. 

"And thus' | o'er-siz'|ed with'| coag'|ulate gore'|| " II. ii. 495. 

"What's Hec'|uba'| to him',| or he'| to Hec'uba|| " II. ii. 596. 

"But never' | the offence'. | To bear'| all smooth' | and even'|| " IV. iii. 7. 

But never = But ne 'er ; the offence = Th ' offence. 

' ' Next', your | son gone' ; | and he' | most vi' | ( o ) lent author 1 1 " IV. v. 66. 

The following couplet is scanned as eight and six. 

"Why, let' | the strick'|en deer'| go weep',] 

The hart', | ungall'|ed play';| III. ii. 269-270 ff. 

Scan Ophelia's song thus: 

"And will' | he not come'| again' ?| 
And will' | he not come' | again' 1 1 
No, no' | he is dead':| 
Go to' | thy death -bed': | 
He never' | will come'| again'. || " 

"His beard' | was as white' | as snow',[ 
All flax' | en was' | his poll' : j 
He is gone', | he is gone',| 
And we cast'| away'| moan';| 
God ha' mer'|cy on' | his soul'!||" IV. v. 173-182. 

Bhytne. ' ' Rhyme was often used as an effective termination at the end 
of a scene. When scenery was not changed, or the arrangements were so 
defective that the change was not easily perceptible, it was perhaps addi- 
tionally desirable to mark a scene that was finished. ' ' 

' ' Ehyme was also sometimes used in the same conventional way to mark 
an aside, which otherwise the audience might have great difficulty in know- 
ing to be an aside." — Abbott. 

Examples of rhyme at the end of a scene are : I. ii., II. i., II. ii., III. i., 
HI. ii., III. iii., IV. i., IV. iii., IV. iv., V. i., V. ii. 



248 HAMLET 



Prose. Prose is not only used in comic scenes; it is adopted for letters, 
M. of V. IV. i. 147-63, and on other occasions when it is desirable to lower 
the dramatic pitch : for instance, in the more colloquial parts of the household 
scene between Volumnia and Virgilia, Coriol, I. iii., where the scene begins 
with prose, then passes into verse, and returns finally to prose. It is also 
used to express frenzy, Othello, IV. i. 34-44; and madness, King Lear, IV. 
vi. 130, and the higher flights of the imagination. 

Examples of prose in Hamlet: 

II. ii. 169-449. Madness and colloquial. 

II. ii. 499, 500. Colloquial. 

II. ii. 531-534. Colloquial. 

II. ii. 552-585. Colloquial. 

III. ii. 100-154. Hamlet simulates madness when in conversation with 
the king, the queen, and Ophelia. 

III. ii. 1-51. Colloquial. Hamlet's conversation with the players. 

III. ii. 98-154, 182, 222, 227-268. Interruptions in the play scene; the 
prose marks the conversation of the audience. 

III. ii. 273-293. Colloquial. Hamlet conversing with Horatio. 

III. ii. 294-400. On the entrance of Eosenerantz and Guildenstern Ham- 
let simulates madness. 

III. ii. 401-412. Now that Hamlet is alone he speaks in verse. 

IV. iii. 43-57. Hamlet is simulating madness. 
IV. v. 21-60. Ophelia, really mad, speaks in prose. 

IV. v. 153-184. Ophelia dressed with straws and flowers speaks in 
prose. Her madness becomes apparent to Laertes. 

IV. vi. 6-34. Colloquial between Horatio and the sailors. The letter is 
also in prose. 

IV. vii. 43-47. A letter. 

V. i. 1-240. Partly comedy, partly colloquial between the gravediggers 
and Hamlet. 

V. ii. 81-191. The conversation with Osric. Colloquial. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 
INTRODUCTION 



1. Write a brief biography of Shakespeare — not more than ten or fifteen 

lines. 

2. Who was Ann Hathaway? 

3. During the reigns of what British monarchs did Shakespeare flourish? 

4. What was Shakespeare's last place of residence? 

5. Quote the lines inscribed on Shakespeare's tomb. 

6. Briefly discuss Shakespeare's religion. 

7. Who was Archdeacon Davies? 

8. Briefly discuss Shakespeare's learning. 

9. Write a short sketch of the drama. 

10. Briefly describe the presentation of the drama in Shakespeare's time. 

II 

1. What was the Stationers' Company? 

2. Where and under what name did Shakespeare's Hamlet first appear, 

and what is the generally accepted opinion regarding the genuineness 
of this edition? 

3. How does the title of the 1603 edition differ from that of the 1604 

edition? 

4. How many Quarto and how many Polio editions of Shakespeare's 

works were published? 

5. How does the present edition of Hamlet differ from its original form 

in the Folio and in the Quarto? 

6. Briefly give the sources of the play Hamlet. 

7. Show the points of resemblance between Hamlet and the Legend of 

Amleth. 

8. Synopsize Arnold's remarks on Hamlet. 

Ill 

1. Briefly sketch the character of Claudius. 

2. How does he appear as a King? 

3. Write eight or ten lines descriptive of the Queen. 

249 



250 HAMLET 



4. How. does the Queen act towards Ophelia? 

5. Who was Mrs. Jameson? 

6. The Queen says of Hamlet "he is fat, and scant of breath ' ' : Discuss 

this statement. 

7. Who was Goethe? 

8. What does Dowden say regarding the sincerity of Hamlet? 

9. Quote Gervinus on Hamlet's literary tastes. 
10. Discuss Hamlet's melancholy and irresolution. 

TV 

1. Briefly sketch the character of Polonius. 

2. State Hazlitt's opinion of him. 

3. Who was Hazlitt? 

4. Give the substance of Ophelia's reply to Laertes' fraternal advice. 

5. Where was Laertes educated? 

6. Synopsize Dowden 's estimate of Laertes. 

7. Draw a brief contrast between the characters of Laertes and of Hamlet. 

8. Who was Ulrici? 



1. Amplify the phrase "Unsifted in such perilous circumstance." 

2. Why does Hamlet advise Ophelia to go to a nunnery? 

3. What is the only fault in Ophelia's character? 

4. How does Maeterlinck speak of Goethe's Margaret and of Shakes- 

peare's Ophelia? 

5. Tell what you know of Maeterlinck. 

VI 

1. Write a brief sketch of Horatio. 

2. Give the substance of what Eichardson says of Horatio. 

3. Who was Eichardson? 

4. Who was Fortinbras? 

5. Of what was Osric a type? 

6. Who were Eosencrantz and Guildenstern? 

7. How does Hamlet justify his conduct towards Eosencrantz and Guilden- 

stern? 

8. Tell what you know of the Gravediggers. 

9. Give the substance of Eichardson 's reference to the Ghost. 
10. Who was Charles Lamb? 



QUESTIONS FOE REVIEW 



251 





VII 








(Acts I and 


H) 




Write notes on: — 








(a) University of Wittenberg. 


(f) 


Nemean lion. 


(b) Hyperion. 




(g) 


Lethe. 


(c) Niobe. 




(k) 


Hebenon. 


(d) Hercules. 




(i) 


Arras. 


(e) Sterling. 


VIII 
(Act III) 


(3) 


Seneca. 


Write notes on: — 








(a) Termagant. 




(f) 


Phoebus. 


(b) Herod. 




(g) 


Hecate. 


(c) Vulcan. 




(h) 


Damon. 


(d) The Capitol. 




(i) 


Soul of Nero. 


(e) Brutus. 




<j) 


Mercury. 



Write notes on: — 

(a) Sponge. 

(b) A baker's daughter. 

(c) Saint Valentine. 



IX 

(Act IV) 



(d) 
(e) 



Hatchment. 
Stood challenger. 



(Act V) 



Write notes on: — 

(a) Yaughan. 



(b) 
(c) 
(d) 



Alexander. 

Pelion. 

Ossa. 



(e) 
(f) 

(g) 



Act I. Scene I 



Yeoman's service. 

Lapwing. 

They change rapiers. 



What part do Marcellus and Francisco take in the play? 

Describe (by quotations) the appearance, dress, and features of the 

Ghost. 
Write out passage on 11. 113 to 125, inclusive. 
Explain the following words: fantasy, approve, sometimes, jump, mart, 

divide, stomach, romage, stands, still, foreknowing, extravagant, takes, 

russet. 
Paraphrase the passage on 11. 149 to 156, inclusive. 



252 HAMLET 



6. Write explanatory notes, grammatical or otherwise, on ' ' carefully upon 

your hour, ' ' " bitter cold, " " rivals, " " a piece of him, " " avouch, ' ' 
"sledded Polack," "impress," "romage," "harbingers," "parti- 
san," "being so majestical," "bird of dawning," "needful in our 
loves. ' ' 

7. Mention any superstitious beliefs referred to in this scene. 

Act I. Scene II 

1. How does Claudius endeavor to justify his marriage with the Queen? 

2. What contrasts does Hamlet draw between his father and his uncle? 

3. Quote Hamlet's enumeration of the ordinary signs of woe. 

4. Name the speaker, explain the meaning and allusion in: "colleagued 

with the dream of his advantage," "the most immediate to our 
throne, " " cast thy nighted colour off, " " lose your voice, " " my hard 
consent, ' ' " what make you from Wittenberg, " " I doubt some foul 
play?" 

5. Write out the passage on 11. 129 to 146, inclusive. 

6. What meaning does Shakespeare attach to the following words: some- 

time, jointress, supposed, pardon, lab our some, cousin, 'haviour, denote, 
retrograde, rouse, merely, change, exactly, constantly, dexterity, 'post? 
Give the context. 

7. Quote instances of double negatives. 

8. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 198 to 205, inclusive. 

9. Explain the grammar of: "we have here writ to Norway," "more 

than the scope of these dilated articles allow," "we doubt it 
nothing," "as any the most vulgar," "than that which dearest 
father bears his son." 

10. Give meaning of: impotent, dilated, lids, beaver, vulgar, jocund, ob- 

sequious, tell, vailed. 

11. Write notes upon: "Wittenberg university," "the great cannon," 

' ' like Niobe, all tears, " " had left the flushing in her galled eyes, ' ' 
"windy suspiration of forced breath." 

12. What causes Fortinbras to choose the opportunity for attacking Den- 

mark? 

Act I. Scene III 

1. What view does Laertes take of Hamlet's favor to Ophelia? What 

advice does he give her? How do subsequent events justify or con- 
demn the warning? 

2. Quote the precepts of Polonius to Laertes, tabulating them under tV- 

following heads: (1) general conduct, (2) friendship, (3) quar;c:s, 
(4) dress, '5) loans. 



QUESTIONS FOE REVIEW 253 

3. Give the meaning of the following words: convoy, suppliance, soil, 

cautel, main voice, unmaster'd, ungracious, puffed, occasion, character, 
censure, chief, Jmsbandry, season, tend, unsifted, tenders, entreat- 
ments, tether, charge. 

4. Scan lines 21, 33, 64, 101, 117, 120. 

5. Write notes upon : ' ' a violet in the youth of primy nature, " "he may 

not . . . earve for himself, ' ' " dull thy palm, " " shall keep the key, ' ' 
"to eraek the wind," "springes to catch woodcocks," "and with a 
larger tether may he walk. ' ' 

6. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 126 to 131, inclusive. 

7. Quote the lines illustrating a play on the words (and explain) tender, 

fashion. 

8. Comment upon the grammar of: — 

(a) "Best safety lies in fear." 

(b) "Nor any unproportional thought his act." 

(e) "The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried." 

(d) "Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy." 

(e) "How prodigal the soul lends the tongue vows." 

(f) "As it is a-making. " 

(g) "I would not have you so slander any moment leisure." 

Act I. Scene IV 

Show that when Hamlet is excited he is capable of independent action. 
Explain the line, "Doth all the noble substance often dout." 
Write out passage on 11. 15 to 38, inclusive. 
Paraphrase the passage 11. 70 to 79, inclusive. 
Explain allusions : ' ' Fortune 's star, " " Nemean lion 's nerve. ' ' 
"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Justify this state- 
ment. Who was the speaker 9 

7. Give meaning and context of: eager, wont, wassail, up-spring reels, 

clepe, pales, plausive, undergo, livery, dram of base, dout, cerements, 
inurn'd, disposition, impairment, removed, beetles, toys, nerve. 

8. Explain: "the king doth wake," "soil our addition," "mole of 

nature, " " too much o 'er-leavens. ' ' 

9. How does Hamlet address the Ghost and how does the Ghost reply? 
L0. Illustrate Shakespeare's acquaintance with legal terminology. 

Act I. Scene V 

1. What was the general idea regarding the cause of the king's death? 

2. Quote the Ghost's account of the King's murder. 



254 HAMLET 

3. Give the meanings of: render, liarrow, haste, ranlcly, secure, posset, 

globe, fond, saivs, pressures, arrant, circumstance, truepenny, pioner, 
antic, luxury. 

4. Explain: "eternal blazon," "a most instant tetter barked about," 

" unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled, " "upon my sword," "in the 
cellarage," "hie et ubique," "the time is out of joint." 

5. Comment upon the grammar of: — 

(a) " 'Gins to pale his uneffectual fire." 

(b) "But this is wondrous strange." 
(e) "At your most need." 

6. Sean: "As you are friends, scholars, and soldiers. " 

7. "What was Hamlet's object in feigning madness? 

8. Quote in Shakespeare 's words an allusion to the doctrine of purgatory. 

Act II. Scene I 

1. Who is Eeynaldo? What part does he take in the play? 

2. Mention some anachronisms in the play. 

3. What conclusions have you reached regarding the character of Polonius? 

4. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 6 to 15, inclusive. 

5. Comment on the following words and phrases: "marvellous wisely," 

' ' Danskers, " " drift of question, " " slips, " " season, " " quaintly, ' ' 
' ' taints of liberty, " " drift, " " prenominate, " " addition, " " wind- 
lasses," "assays of bias," "down-gyved," "fordoes," "proper." 

6. "Wherefore should you do this?" Who puts this question, and what 

answer is given? 

7. ' ' This is the very ecstasy of love. ' ' What actions on the part of Ham- 

let cause Polonius to make this comment? 

8. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 59 to 62, inclusive. 

Act II. Scene II 

1. In the plot against Hamlet, what part is taken by Eosenerantz and 

Guildenstern, and with what success? 

2. Describe in the words of Polonius the gradual decline of Hamlet ' ' into 

the madness wherein now he raves." 

3. How does Polonius propose to test his theory? 

4. Who is Voltimand? Give a short summary of his message. 

5. Explain the use and give context of: provolce, sending, gentry, fruit, 

distemper, pass, expostulate, perpend, machine, round, watch, arras, 
indifferent. 



QUESTIONS FOE EEVIEW 255 

6. Explain: "vouchsafe your rest," "upon our first," "assay of 

arms," "in her excellent white bosom," "I am ill at these num- 
bers," "if I had played the desk," "idle sight," "mark the en- 
counter," "111 board him presently." 

7. Explain the grammar of: "of so young days," "the power you have 

of us," "upon our first, he sent out to suppress," "he truly found 
it was against your highness," "and now remains," "excellent 
well," "as hush as death," "you were better have a bad epitaph." 

8. Explain the allusions in: — 

(a) "The satirical rogue says." 

(b) "Of Fortune's cap we are the very button." 

(c) "Your secrecy . . . moult no feather." 

(d) "What is this quintessence of dust?" 

(e) "Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light." 

(f) " 'Twas JEneas' tale to Dido." 

9. How does Hamlet discuss the charge of ambition? 

Act II. Scene II (Continued) 

1. Give an account (1) of the conversation between Hamlet and Polonius 

in the lobby, (2) of the meeting between Hamlet and Eosencrantz 
and Guildenstern. 

2. Explain the use of: direct, brave, fretted, rusty, aiery, quality, argu- 

ment, comply, bus, row, abridgment. 

3. Explain: "outstretched heroes," "a free visitation," "a better pro- 

poser," "tickled o' the sere," "top of question," "picture in 
little," "scene individable, " "poem unlimited," "thy face is 
valanced," "your ladyship is nearer heaven," "the altitude of a 
chopine, " " eracked within the ring. ' ' 

4. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 361 to 368. 

5. Explain and give the context of: — 

(a) "Then are our beggars bodies." 

(b) "What make you at Elsinore?" 
(e) "I know a hawk from a handsaw." 

(d) " 'Twas caviare to the general." 

(e) " What 's Hecuba to him ? " 

6. "What a piece of work is a man! " How does Hamlet describe him? 

7. Give meaning of: confines, fay, prevent, paragon, coted, escoted, cue, 

cunning, tent, blench, sift. 

8. How does Hamlet receive the players? 



256 HAMLET 



Act II. Scene II (Continued!) 

1. Write out passage on 11. 587 to 603, inclusive. 

2. Briefly describe the death of Priam. What was the play described 

by Hamlet as one that "pleased not the million"? 

3. Explain the use and give context of: rack, region, mobled, passion, 

function, amaze, Mndless, abuses, relative. 

4. Explain: "total gules," "o'er -sized with coagulate gore," "takes 

prisoner Pyrrhus' ear," "a painted tyrant," "proof eterne," "bis- 
son rheum, " " speak out the rest, " " for a need, " " pigeon-livered. ' ' 

5. Who were Pyrrhus, Priam, Hecuba? 

6. Comment on the grammar of "Who does me this?" and give other 

examples from the play of a like construction. 

7. Explain the allusions in: — 

(a) "When he lay couched in the ominous horse." 

(b) "The Cyclops' hammers." 

(c) "I was killed i' the Capitol." 

8. What plan does Hamlet form to test the conscience of King Claudius? 



Act III. Scene I 

1. Write out passage on 11. 53 to 85, inclusive. What is the theme upon 

which Hamlet meditates in this soliloquy? 

2. What report do Eosenerantz and Guildenstern make to the King on the 

subject of Hamlet's eccentric behavior? What questions are put 
to them (1) by the King, (2) by the Queen? 

3. What fresh contrivance is arranged for discovering the cause of Ham- 

let's distraction? 

4. Give the meaning, with context, of: o'er-raught, closely, affront, rub, 

spurns, takes, bodkin, pith, remembrances, re-deliver, Jwnest, wanton- 
ness, disclose. 

5. Explain: "drift of circumstance," "to both your honours," "give 

him a further edge," "'when we have shuffled off this mortal coil," 
' ' the native hue of resolution, " " the glass of fashion and the mould 
of form," "variable objects." 

6. Comment on the grammar of: "and he beseeched me," "I shall obey 

you," "who would bear . . . the oppressor's wrong," "soft you 
now," "their perfume lost, take these again," "the time gives it 
proof, " " which, for to prevent, " "he shall with speed to England, ' ' 
"whereon his brains still beating, puts him thus." 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 257 

Give meaning of : quietus, fardels, orisons, aught, nickname. 

Describe the scene between Hamlet and Ophelia following the soliloquy 

referred to in question 1. 
Account for Hamlet 's strange behavior to Ophelia. 

Act III. Scene II 

Give Hamlet's description of Horatio. 

Where is the scene of the play? 

Give the substance of Hamlet's instructions to the players. 

Describe the dumb show enacted by the players. 

Give the meaning, with context, of: groundlings, modesty, pressure, 
censure, barren, coped, advancement, thrift, idle, stay, leave, instances, 
opposite, blanks. 

Explain: "candied tongue," "crook the pregnant hinges of the 
knee," "the chameleon's dish," "what did you enact?" "hobby- 
horse," "miching mallecho," "posy of a ring," "an anchor's 
cheer," "let the galled jade wince, our withers are unwrung." 

Comment on the grammar of: "nor do not saw the air too much," 
"a thousand pound," "discomfort you, my lord, it nothing must," 
"the littlest doubts are fear," "which now, like fruit unripe, sticks 
on the tree ; but fall, unshaken, when they mellow be, " " nor 'tis not 
strange, " "in one line two crafts directly meet. ' ' 

Explain allusions in: "whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out- 
herods Herod," "Phoebus' cart," "Neptune's salt wash," "with 
Hecate's ban thrice blasted," "for thou dost know, O Damon, dear," 
"the soul of Nero." 

Explain: periwig, journeymen, unkennel, stithy, puppets, toil, shent. 

Write out passage on 11. 202 to 207, inclusive. 

Act III. Scene II (Continued) 

Does "the mouse-trap" succeed in "catching the conscience of the 
king?" 

What reasons can be given for considering the madness of Hamlet real? 

Give the meaning of : tropically, image, anon, cry, wholesome, fret. 

Explain: "free souls," "leave thy damnable faces," "turn Turk," 
"razed shoes," "perdy," "marvellous distempered," "pickers and 
stealers, " " give them seals, " " the voice of the king. ' ' 

Write out the passage on 11. 401 to 412, inclusive. 



258 HAMLET 



6. What are the steps by which Hamlet becomes satisfied that Claudius 

is the King's murderer? 

7. What do we learn from the play about the stage in Shakespeare's 

time? 

8. Quote a few expressions from the play that have become proverbial. 

9. What allusions are there in the play to contemporary history and 

customs? 

Act III. Scene III 

1. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 11 to 22, inclusive. 

2. Quote the passage on 11. 37 to 47, inclusive. . 

3. To what thoughts does the King give utterance on (1) mercy, (2) 

prayer, (3) repentance? 

4. What reasons does Hamlet give for not putting the King to death 

when at prayer? Comment upon the same. 

5. Explain meaning of: gulf, free-footed, closet, effects, rests, scann'd, 

flush, hent. 

6. Explain : ' ' terms of our estate, " " single and peculiar life, " " cease of 

majesty, ' ' ' ' speedy voyage. ' ' 

7. Comment upon the grammar of: "and he to England shall along 

with you," "we will ourselves provide," "ten thousand lesser 
things," "should o'erhear the speech of vantage," "the wicked 
prize itself buys out the law, " " the action lies in his true nature. ' ' 

8. Explain the allusions in: "primal eldest curse," "and what's in 

prayer but this two-fold force," "offence's gilded hand may shove 
by, justice," "when he is fit and season 'd for his passage." 

Act III. Scene IV 

1. In the scene between Hamlet and the Queen, describe (1) the death 

of Polonius, (2) the reappearing of the Ghost. 

2. What effect have Hamlet's upbraidings on the Queen? 

3. Eeproduce in the words of Shakespeare the pictures of the present 

and the late King as depicted by Hamlet. 

4. What epithets does Hamlet apply to Polonius? Is he justified in so 

doing? 

5. In what words does Hamlet maintain his own sanity? 

6. Give the meaning of the following, with context: broad, round, idle, 

rood, rat, station, batten, motion, hoodman-blind, mope, mutine, cut- 
purse, visitation, conceit, coinage, pursy, minister, ravel, paddock, gib, 
sport, delve. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 259 

7. Explain: "new-lighted on a heaven -kissing hill," "a Vice of kings," 

"to try conclusions." 

8. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 48 to 51, inclusive, and 71 to 81. 

9. Explain the grammar of: "fear me not," "nor sense to ecstasy was 

ne 'er so thralled, " " O throw away the worser part of it, " " let the 
bloat king tempt you, " "I had forgot : 'tis so concluded, " " there 's 
letters sealed, " " and blow them at the moon. ' ' 

Act IV. Scenes I, II, III 

1. What comment does the King make upon the death of Polonius, and 

what course of action does he decide upon? 

2. Why was the King unable to get rid of Hamlet by direct means? 

3. What reference is made to England in the play? What conclusion can 

you draw from it as to the date of the events related in the play? 

4. Give the meaning of: liberty, threats, woundless, authorities, convoca- 

tion, fat. 

5. Explain : ' ' the owner of a foul disease, " " his brainish apprehension, ' ' 

"the pith of life," "variable service," "with fiery quickness," 
' ' the wind at help, " " the associates tend. ' ' 

6. Explain the meaning of : " Besides, to be demanded of a sponge ! ' ' 

By whom were the words spoken, and to whom do they refer? 
Justify the contemptuous epithet "sponge." 

Act IV. Scenes IV, V 

1. Illustrate the character of Fortinbras by quotations from the play. 

Contrast him with Hamlet. How does Hamlet contrast Fortinbras 
with himself? 

2. Write out the passage on 11. 32 to 38, inclusive. 

3. Paraphrase the passage on 11. 55 to 64, inclusive. 

4. Explain: "the conveyance of a promised march," "truly to speak, 

and with no addition, " " army, of such mass and charge, " " makes 
mouths at the invisible event," "trick of fame," "each toy seems 
prologue to some great amiss," "the beauteous majesty of Den- 
mark," "God 'ieldyou." 

5. Explain the use of: debate, imposthume, fust, puffed, blood, spurns, 

collection, aim, botch, larded, conceit, betime. 

6. Comment upon the grammar of: "her mood will needs be pitied," 

"there's tricks i' the world," "and his sandal shoon," "I cannot 
choose but weep." 



260 HAMLET 

7. With regard to Ophelia's madness, (1) Give indications of her insan- 

ity; (2) Note the principal points of difference between her state 
and Hamlet's assumed madness; (3) Upon what subjects do her 
thoughts run? (4) What was the cause of her madness? 

8. Quote Ophelia's song commencing "To-morrow is Saint Valentine's 

day." 

9. Explain allusions: "cockle hat and . . . shoon," "the owl is a 

baker's daughter," "St. Valentine's day." 



Act IV. Scene V 

1. "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." 

What are these "sorrows" as enumerated by the King? 

2. Was Hamlet's madness assumed? Give reasons for your answer. 

3. Give meaning of: hugger-mugger, buzzers, counter, level, fine, instance, 

barefaced, persuade, document, hatchment, escutcheon. 

4. Explain: "as much containing," "keeps himself in clouds," "our 

person to arraign in ear and ear, " " sense and virtue of mine eye, ' ' 
1 ' and we cast away moan, " " I must commune with your grief. ' ' 

5. What is the signification of rosemary, pansies, fennel, columbine, rue, 

violets, and to whom does Ophelia present them? 

6. Explain allusions: "come, my coach," "like to a murdering piece," 

"where are my Switzers?" "how cheerfully on the false trail they 
cry," "the kind life-rendering pelican," "you may wear your 
rue with a difference. ' ' 

7. Explain grammar of : " follow her close, " " for good Polonius ' death, ' ' 

"will nothing stick our person to arraign," " gives me superfluous 
death, " " the doors are broke, " "do not fear our person, " " treason 
can but peep to what it would, " " acts little of his will, " " is 't writ 
in your revenge, " "or you deny me right, " " make choice of whom 
your wisest friends you will," "his means of death." 



Act IV. Scenes VI, VII 

1. Give the substance of Hamlet's letter to Horatio. 

2. "Of them I have much to tell thee." To whom does Hamlet refer? 

When does he give the explanation to Horatio, and what does he 
tell him? 



QUESTIONS FOR EEVIEW 261 

3. Who was Lamond? What mention is made of him? 

4. Give the meaning of: crimeful, count, gyves, naked, abuse, character, 

weeds, scrimers, motion, unbated, contagion, nonce, venom'd, liberal, 
trick. 

5. Explain: "the bore of the matter," "it well appears," "the queen 

lives almost by his looks," "the general gender," "my sudden and 
more strange return, ' ' " wind of blame, " " such a masterly report, ' ' 
"the quick o' the ulcer," "pass of practice," "blast in proof," 
"long purples." 

6. Comment on the grammar of: "what are they?" "I'll give you way 

for these letters, and do't the speedier," "let our beard be shook 
with danger," "he shall .not choose but fall," "no place should 
murder sanctuarize, " "which time she chanted snatches of old 
tunes. ' ' 

7. Write out the passage describing the death of Ophelia, 11. 165 to 182. 

8. Give a description of her death in your own words. 

9. Explain allusions: "the spring that turneth wood to stone," "stood 

challenger on mount of all the age," "as checking at his voyage," 
"he is the brooch and gem of all the nation." 



Act V. Scene I 

1. At what point in the play does Hamlet cease to feign madness? 

2. What allusions does Hamlet make to Alexander and Imperial Caesar? 

3. Explain : ' ' their even Christian, " " tell me that, and unyoke, ' ' 

"speak by the card," "he galls his kibe," "peace-parted souls," 
"thy most ingenious sense," " wonder -wounded hearers," "we'll 
put the matter to the present push. ' ' 

4. Give the meaning of: argal, delver, stoop, intill, jowls, politician, 

masard, sconce, quick, absolute, picked, jester, chap-fallen, fordo, 
shards, crants, requiem, disclosed. 

5. What remarks does Hamlet make (1) on the skull of a lawyer, (2) on 

the social position of a peasant? 

6. Explain allusions: "Adam's profession," "get thee to Taughan," 

' ' Cain 's jawbone, " "to play at loggats, " " she should in ground un- 
sanctified have lodged, " "to o 'ertop old Pelion, " " make Ossa like 
a wart," "her golden couplets," "not a jot," "the bringing home 
of bell and burial." 



262 HAMLET 



7. What instances are there of "play on words" in Act V. Sc. i.? Men- 

tion other instances in the play. 

8. According to the clown, what are the three branches of an act? 

9. Explain the grammar of: "one that would circumvent God," "for 

and a shrouding sheet. ' ' 

10. What allusions are made in Act V. Sc. i. to Hamlet's age and to 

England? 

11. Give instances of the Clowns' or Gravediggers ' using words conveying 

opposite meaning to that intended. 

Act V. Scene II 

1. Describe the entrance of the funeral procession in Act V. Sc. i. 

2. Give a summary of the action and behavior of the priest. 

3. "There is in Hamlet a terrible power of sudden and desperate action" 

(Dow den). Illustrate this remark from the play. 

4. How does Hamlet justify himself for the death of Eosencrantz and 

Guildenstern? 

5. Who is Osric? What part does he take in the play? What affectations 

of his time does Shakespeare satirize in this character? 

6. Give the meaning of: tugs, baseness, defeat, insinuation, angle, cozen- 

age, bravery, chough, complexion, semblable, umbrage, concernanoy, 
unfellowed, imponed, assigns, hangers, responsive, germane, redeliver. 

7. Explain: "my sea-gown scarfed about me," "on the supervise, no 

leisure bated," "gave 't the impression," "full of most excellent 
differences," "his definement suffers no perdition." 

8. Explain allusions: "not to stay the grinding of the axe," "not shriv- 

ing-time allowed," "the changeling never known," "this lapwing 
runs away with the shell on his head." 

9. Comment upon the grammar of : " does it not stand me, think.'st thee, 

now upon?" "I should impart a thing to you," "it is indifferent 
cold," "in our more rawer breath," "it would not much approve 
me." 
10. What were the terms of the wager? What were the stakes? 

Act V. Scene II (Continued) 

1. What conversation took place between Hamlet and Laertes previous 

to the duel? 

2. What were the stratagems of the King and Laertes for the destruc- 

tion of Hamlet? How did they fail? 



QUESTIONS FOE EEVIEW 263 

3. Describe the conduct of the Queen during the duel. 

4. Quote the dying words of Laertes. 

5. What was Hamlet's dying charge to Horatio, and what role did he 

appoint to Eortinbras? 

6. Give the meaning and context of: gain-giving, union, kettle, napkin, 

unbated, tempered, chance, occwrrents, toward, jump, upshot, presently. 

7. Explain: "use some gentle entertainment/' "this presence knows," 

"I am satisfied in nature," "to keep my name ungored," "stick 
fiery off, " " whose voice will draw on more. ' ' 

8. Explain allusions: "a special providence in the fall of a sparrow," 

"Sir, in this audience," "this fell sergeant Death," "I am more 
an antique Eoman than a Dane," "this quarry cries on havoc," 
"go, bid the soldiers shoot." 

9. Explain with reference to the context: "there's a divinity which 

shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will, " "it did me yeoman 's 
service, " " the interim is mine, " " dost know this water-fly, " " put 
your bonnet to his right use," "you will lose this wager, my lord." 

General 

1. Discuss the character of Polonius, illustrating, if you can, by quota- 

tions. 

2. Explain the following passages, referring in each case to the context: — 

(a) It is a custom 
More honour 'd in the breach than the observance. 

(b) I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I 
know a hawk from a handsaw. 

(c) To be, or not to be, — that is the question. 

(d) Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, 
you cannot play upon me. 

3. What part is played in the drama by Laertes? 

4. Hamlet is alternately irresolute and passionate. Give any instances 

of both moods that you can remember. 

5. What is meant by : cautel, dout, eyases, caviare, mobled, John-a-dreams, 

shent, imposthume, loggats, bugs, an union. 

6. Write not more than twelve or fourteen lines of one only of the fol- 

lowing passages beginning, 

(a) Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt. 

(b) I am thy father's spirit. 

(c) Oh, my offense is rank. 



264 HAMLET 



General (Continued) 

1. Explain carefully the meaning of the following passages, and give the 

name of the speaker and the occasion of the speech: — 

(a) But there is, Sir, an aiery of children, little eyases, that cry 
out on the top of question, and are most tyrannically clapped 
for 't. 

(b) Yet I, 

A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak, 
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause, 
And can say nothing. 

(c) Witness this army, of such mass and charge, 
Let by a delicate and tender prince; 
Whose spirit, with divine ambition puffed, 
Makes mouths at the invisible event. 

(d) There's such divinity doth hedge a king. 
That treason can but peep to what it would, 
Acts little of his will. 

(e) Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, 
and his tricks? 

2. Describe and explain Hamlet's treatment of: — 

(a) His mother. 

(b) Ophelia. 

3. Contrast the character of Hamlet with that of Horatio. 

4. How do you account for Hamlet's procrastination in taking vengeance 

on his father's murderer? 



GLOSSARY 



About, turn your activity in another di- 
rection, II. ii. 628. 

Abridgement, cutting off my speech, II. 
ii. 449. 

Absolute, positive, "V. i. 151. 

Abstract, summary, II. ii. 558. 

Abuse, deceit, IV. vii. 49. 

Adder, a viper, III. iv. 196. 

Addition, a title, I. iv. 20; II. i. 45. 

Admiration, perplexity, wonder, I. ii. 
191; III. ii. 334. 

Aiery, an eagle's nest; hence a brood, 

II. ii. 362. 

Affections, mental etate, disposition, III. 

I. 167. 

Affront, confront, III. i. 31. 

After, according to, II. Ii. 565. 

Against, before, II. ii. 516. 

Aim, guess, IV. v. 9. 

Alarm, call to arms, III. iv. 118. 

Alley, a passage, a gallery, I. v. 51. 

Allowance, permission, II. ii. 79. 

Amaze, confound, II. ii. 602. 

Amble, walk in an affected manner, III. 

i. 148. 
Amiss, disaster, IV. v. 18. 
Anchor, a recluse, a hermit, anchorite, 

III. ii. 217. 
And, if, V. i. 308. 

Anon, Immediately, soon, II. ii. 501. 
Answer, to account for, III. iv. 172; 

acceptance, V. ii. 179. 
Antic, fantastic, strange, I. v. 154. 
Antique, old, ancient, V. ii. 359. 
Apoplex'd, benumbed, paralyzed. III. iv. 

73. 
Apparel, dress, clothes, I. 111. 72. 
Approve, to prove, justify, I. i. 29; to 

commend, V. ii. 143. 
Appurtenance, proper accompaniment, 

II. ii. 396. 

Apt, ready, I. v. 31. 

Argal, therefore, V. i. 13. 

Argument, the plot of a play, II. ii. 380; 

III. ii. 144; object of quarrel, IV. iv. 
53. 

Arrant, real, I. v. 106. 
Arras, tapestry, III. iii. 29. 
Art, ingenuity, II. ii. 95; artfulness, II. 
ii. 96. 



Artery, sinew, I. iv. 83. 

Article, substance, V. ii. 123. 

Artless, ignorant, IV. v. 19. 

As, since, IV. vii. 8. 

Assail, to assault, to attack, I. 1. 31. 

Assay, tempt, III. i. 14. 

Assigns, appendages, V. ii. 159. 

Audit, final account, III. iii. 83. 

Aught, a thing, anything, II. ii. 17. 

Augury, omens, V. ii. 234. 

Auspicious, bright, happy looking, I. il. 

11. 
Avouch, warrant, confirmation, I. i. 57. 

Ban, proclamation, excommunication, 
curse, III. ii. 255. 

Bare, unsheathed, III. i. 73. 

Barred, shut out, I. ii. 14. 

Baseness, beneath a gentleman, V. ii. 34. 

Bated, without delay, V. ii. 23. 

Batten, to grow fat, to fatten, III. iv. 
67. 

Beaten, familiar, II. ii. 280. 

Bear, carry out, IV. iii. 7. 

Bear't, conduct yourself, I. iii. 67. 

Beaver, the lower part of a helmet, I. 
ii. 229. 

Beetle, to project over, I. iv. 72. 

Behove, advantage, V. i. 71. 

Bent, inclination, II. ii. 30. 

Berattle, attack noisily, berate, II. II. 
365. 

Bestow, to pack away, III. iv. 172. 

Bestowed, lodged, II. ii. 557. 

Bespeak, address, II. Ii. 141. 

Better'd, improved, V. ii. 280. 

Bias, indirect attempts, II. i. 61. 

Bilboes, fetters named from Bilboa in 
Spain, V. ii. 6. 

Bisson, blinding, II. ii. 538. 

Blank, white spot in the center of a tar- 
get, IV. i. 42. 

Blanks, blanches, III. ii. 218. 

Blastments, blights, I. iii. 42. 

Blazon, revelation, I. v. 21. 

Blench, flinch, II. ii. 637. 

Blood, impulse, III. ii. 75. 

Blown, in full bloom, III. i. 164. 

Board, to accost, II. ii. 172. 

Bodkin, a small dagger, III. 1. 73. 



265 



266 



HAMLET 



Bodykins, diminutive of body, II. li. 564. 

Bore, caliber, IV. vl. 27. 

Botch, to repair, IV. v. 10. 

Bound, ready, I. v. 6. 

Bourn, limit, boundary, III. i. 76. 

Brave, grand, fine, II. ii. 317; glorious, 

II. ii. 622. 
Bravery, swagger, V. ii. 79. 
Braz'd, hardened, III. iv. 37. 
Breathe, whisper, II. i. 29. 
Broad, beyond bounds, free, III. iv. 2. 
Broker, an agent, a go-between, I. Hi. 

127. 
Brooch, ornament, IV. vil. 92. 
Bruit, report loudly, I. ii. 127. 
Budge, to stir, III. iv. 18. 
Bugs, terrors, V. ii. 22. 
Bulk, the trunk of the body, II. i. 91. 
Bulwark, barrier, III. iv. 38. 
Busy, meddlesome, III. iv. 33. 
Button, a bud, I. iii. 40. 
Buzzers, whisperers, tale-bearers, IV. 

v. 76. 
By, about, II. ii. 190. 

Canker, a worm, I. iii. 39; an ulcer, V. 

ii. 69. 
Canon, a rule, a law, I. ii. 132. 
Canonized, ordained a saint, I. iv. 47. 
Capable, sensitive. III. iv. 125. 
Cap-a-pe, from head to foot, I. ii. 199. 
Capita], involving loss of life, IV. vii. 7. 
Carbuncle, a small coal, a gem, II. ii. 

496. 
Card, chart or compass, i. e. guide, V. ii. 

115! 
Carouse, a deep draught, V. ii. 307. 
Carp, a fish, II. i. 59. 
Carriage, import, I. i. 94. 
Carrion, a carcass, putrid flesh, II. ii. 

184. 
Cart, chariot, III. ii. 156. 
Cataplasm, a plaster, a poultice, IV. vii. 

142. 
Cautel, deceit, I. iii. 15. 
Censure, blame, I. iii. 69; I. iv. 35; III. 

ii. 31; III. ii. 93. 
Cerements, grave clothes, I. iv. 48. 
Chameleon, a lizard which feeds on the 

air. III. ii. 99. 
Change, exchange, 1. ii. 162. 
Chapless, without a jaw, V. i. 97. 
Character, write, I. iii. 59. 
Charge, impulse, III. iv. 86; cost, IV. 

iv. 46; importance, V. ii. 43. 
Chariest, most cautious, I. iii. 36. 
Cheer, cheerfulness, III. ii. 165. 
Choler, bile, anger, III. ii. 307. 



Chopine, shoe with a wooden sole, II. 11. 

456. 
Chough, any chattering bird, V. ii. 90. 
Cicatrice, a scar left by a wound, IV. 

iii. 64. 
Clepe, to call, I. iv. 19. 
Climatures, regions, climates, I. 1. 125. 
Closely, with a secret purpose, III. i. 29. 
Closet, private chamber, II. 1. 73. 
Clout, cloth, patch, II. ii. 539. 
Clown, a rustic, V. i. (Stage dir.) 
Coagulate, clotted, II. ii. 495. 
Coil, turmoil, III. i. 64. 
Collateral, indirect, IV. v. 189. 
Collection, inference, IV. v. 9. 
Columbine, a plant, IV. v. 163. 
Colour, give a pretext for, III. 1. 45. 
Comment, power of observation, III. il. 

85. 
Compare, presume to rival, V. ii. 148. 
Competent, sufficient, adequate, I. i. 90. 
Comply, be formally courteous, II. ii. 

398. 
Compost, manure, III. iv. 149. 
Compulsative, compelling, I. i. 103. 
Compulsive, compelling. III. iv. 86. 
Conceit, imagination, II. ii. 594; III. iv. 

112. 
Concernancy, connection, V. ii. 130. 
Concernings, concerns, III. iv. 184. 
Conclusions, experiments, III. iv. 188. 
Condolement, grief, I. il. 93. 
Confine, abode, I. i. 155. 
Congruing, agreeing, IV. iii. 68. 
Conjunctive, closely united, IV. vil. 14. 
Consequence, as follows, II. i. 43. 
Consonancy, harmony, II. ii. 299. 
Contagious, pernicious, I. iii. 42. 
Continent, receptacle, IV. iv. 63. 
Contract, shorten, V. 1. 71. 
Contraction, marriage contract, III. iv. 

46. 
Contriving, plotting, IV. vil. 134. 
Convey, secrete, III. Iii. 29. 
Conveyance, conduct, IV. iv. 3. 
Cope, to encounter, III. il. 61. 
Coted, passed, II. ii. 336. 
Count, account, IV. vii. 17. 
Countenance, favor, authority, IV. ii. 18. 
Counter, false trail, IV. v. 96. 
Counterfeit, imitation, III. iv. 54. 
Couplets, young, V. i. 310. 
Cozen, to cheat, III. iy. 77. 
Cozenage, deceit, V. ii. 67. 
Cracked, broken, II. ii. 458. 
Crants, garlands, V. i. 255. 
Craven, cowardly, IV. iv. 39. 
Credent, believing, I. iii. 30. 



GLOSSAEY 



267 



Crescent, growing, I. ill. 11. 

Crowner (Coroner), an officer under the 

crown, V. i. 4. 
Cry, company, III. 11. 276. 
Cunning:, knowledge, II. ii. 472. 
Curb, to bow, III. tv. 153. 
Curiously, fantastically, V. 1. 227. 
Currents, courses, III. iii. 58. 

Daintier, more delicate, V. i. 78. 
Dalliance, pleasure, I. iii. 50. 
Defeat, destruction, II. ii. 609; V. 11. 58. 
Defeated, marred, I. ii. 10. 
Deflnement, description, V. ii. 118. 
Delicate, fine, V. 11. 162. 
Deliver, report, I. ii. 192. 
Delve, dig, III. iv. 201. 
Despatched, deprived, I. v. 59. 
Desperation, despair, III. ii. 216. 
Despised, unappreciated, III. i. 69. 
Dilated, fully expressed, I. il. 38. 
Dirge, lamentation, I. ii. 12. 
Disappointed, unprepared, I. v. 61. 
Disasters, ominous appearances, I. 1. 

118. 
Disclose, revelation, III. 1. 171. 
Disclosed, unfolded, I. iii. 40; hatched, 

V. 1. 310. 
Discourse, power of reasoning, IV. iv. 35. 
Discovery, disclosure, II. Ii. 310. 
Disposition, state of mind, I. v. 154. 
Distempered, out of sorts, III. 11. 300. 
Distil, melt, I. il. 203. 
Distract, mad, IV. v. 2. 
Distrust, to have fears for, III. 11. 166. 
Document, a lesson or instruction, IV. v. 

161. 
Dole, grief, I. il. 13. 
Doom, Judgment day, III. iv. 50. 
Doublet, a garment, II. 1. 75. 
Doubt, fear, suspect, II. 11. 56; II. ii. 118. 
Dout, extinguish, destroy, I. iv. 37. 
Down-gyved, in loose rings, II. i. 76. 
Draw, to draw to destruction, IV. v. 125. 
Dreaded, dreadful, I. 1. 25. 
Ducat, a coin worth about $2.30, III. iv. 

24. 
Dull, to make callous, I. Hi. 64. 
Dungeon, chief tower of a castle, II. ii. 

254. 

Eager, sharp, I. iv. 2; I. v. 53. 
Ecstasy, madness, II. i. 98; III. i. 165; 

III. iv. 74; III. iv. 137. 
Edge, incitement, III. i. 26. 
Effect, upshot, substance, I. iii. 45. 
Effects, advantages, III. ill. 55. 



Emulate, envious, I. 1. 83. 

Enactures, enactments, III. ii. 195. 

Encompassment, circumventions, II. i. 
10. 

Encumbered, folded, I. v. 156. 

Engaged, entangled, III. iii. 70. 

England, the king of England, IV. iii. 50. 

Enginer, digger, III. iv. 199. 

Entertainment, welcoming, I. iii. 64; II. 
ii. 400. 

Entreatments, favors, I. iii. 122. 

Envious, malignant, IV. vii. 172. 

Equivocation, ambiguity, V. i. 152. 

Erring, wandering, roving, I. i. 154. 

Escoted, payed for, II. ii. 370. 

Esil, vinegar, V. i. 299. 

Espials, spies, III. i. 32. 

Even, straightforward, II. ii. 302; fel- 
low, V. i. 32. 

Event, outcome, IV. iv. 40. 

Exception, dislike, V. ii. 247. 

Excrements, excrescences, III. iv. 119. 

Exercise, occupation, III. i. 45. 

Expostulate, to discuss at large, II. IL 
86. 

Express, exactly fitting, II. 11. 323. 

Extent, condescension, II. ii. 398. 

Extravagant, wandering, roving, I. i. 
154. 

Eyases, unfledged birds, II. ii. 363. 

Eye, presence, IV. iv. 6. 

Fain, gladly, II. 11. 132. 
Familiar, friendly, I. iii. 61. 
Fantasy, imagination, I. 1. 23. 
Fardel, a pack, bundle, III. i. 73. 
Fares, feed on, how does or how is, III. 

il. 98. 
Farm, rent, IV. iv. 19. 
Fashion, something transient, I. ill. 6. 
Fat, out of training, V. il. 305. 
Favour, beauty, appearance, IV. v. 172; 

V. i. 214. 
Fay, faith, II. ii. 275. 
Fear-surprised, seized with fear, I. ii. 

202. 
Feat, a deed, IV. vii. 6. 
Feature, shape, III. i. 164. 
Fee, value, I. iv. 65. 

Felicity, the joys of heaven, V. ii. 365. 
Fell, cruel, V. il. 354. 
Fellowship, partnership, III. ii. 276. 
Felly, a wheel-rim, II. ii. 528. 
Fencing, dueling, II. i. 25. 
Fennel, plant, IV. v. 163. 
Figure, form, I. i. 41; person, III. iv. 103. 
Fine, delicate, II. ii. 478. 
Fines, ends, V. i. 116. 



268 



HAMLET 



First, at once, II. ii. 61. 

Flaw, gust of wind, V. i. 239. 

Flush, lusty, full blown, III. 111. 82. 

Flushing:, red color, I. 11. 155. 

Foil, a blunted rapier, V. 11. 271. 

Follows, results, II. 11. 442. 

Fond, foolish, I. v. 81 ; V. 11. 203. 

Fool, a clown, III. 11. 50. 

Forced, inevitable, V. ii. 401. 

Fordo, to destroy, V. i. 244. 

Forfeit, penalty or fine for misdeed, I. i. 

88. 
Forgeries, fabricated charges, II. 1. 20. 
Forgery, imagination, IV. vii. 88. 
Frame, order, III. ii. 309. 
Frankly, without prejudice, III. 1. 34. 
Free, innocent, II. ii. 601; III. ii. 240. 

unforced, IV. ill. 65. 
Fret, annoy, III. ii. 382. 
Fretted, adorned, II. 11. 318. 
Friending, friendliness, I. v. 168. 
Frighted, frightened, III. ii. 264. 
From, contrary to, III. ii. 23. 
Front, forehead, III. iv. 56. 
Fruit, dessert, II. ii. 52. 
Fruits, consequences, II. 11. 146. 
Function, the whole action of the body, 

II. 11. 593. 
Fust, to become mouldy, IV. iv. 38. 

Gaged, pledged, I. i. 91. 

Gain-giving, misgiving, V. ii. 229. 

'Gainst, just before, I. 1. 158. 

Gait, proceeding, I. il. 31. 

Galled, sore. III. ii. 241; I. ii. 255. 

Galls, injures, I. lii. 39. 

Gambol, skip away, III. iv. 142. 

Garb, fashion, manner, II. 11. 398. 

Gender, people, IV. vli. 18. 

General, common people, II. ii. 468. 

Generous, showing gentle breeding, I, 

iii. 74. 
Gentry, courtesy, II. 11. 22; V. ii. 116. 
Germane, akin, appropriate, V. il. 167. 
Gib, a tomcat, III. iv. 183. 
Gibber, gabble, I. 1. 116. 
Gibes, jeers, V. i. 209. 
Gilded, full of gold (for bribes), III. 

lii. 59. 
Glimpses, glimmering light, I. iv. 53. 
Globe, head, I. v. 79. 
Good, good sirs, I. i. 70. 
Gore, clotted blood, II. 11. 495. 
Gorge, the throat, V. i. 207. 
Grace, honor, favor, I. 1. 131; I. iii. 53; 

L iv. 33; IV. v. 115. 
Gracious, blessed, I. i. 164; III. 1. 43. 



Grained, stained permanently, III. iv. 

90. 
Grating, offending, vexing, III. 1. 3. 
Graveness, dignity, IV. vli. 80. 
Green, Inexperienced, I. ill. 101. 
Greenly, foolishly, IV. v. 69. 
Grizzled, gray, I. ii. 239. 
Gross, large, obvious, IV. Iv. 45. 
Groundlings, rabble, III. 11. 12. 
Grunt, groan, III. 1. 74. 
Gules, red, bloody, II. il. 490. 
Gulf, whirlpool, III. iii. 16. 
Gyves, fetters, IV. vii. 21. 

Habit, politeness, V. 11. 201. 

Handsome, natural beauty, II. ii. 478. 

Hanger, strap for attaching the sword 
to the girdle, V. ii. 159. 

Hap, happen, I. ii. 248. 

Haply, perchance, perhaps, III. i. 176. 

Happily, haply, I. i. 134. 

Happiness, felicity in expression, II. ii. 
217. 

Happy, in good time, V. il. 216. 

Haps, fortune, IV. iii. 72. 

Harbinger, a forerunner, I. i. 122. 

Hatchment, escutcheon, IV. v. 197. 

Haunt, society, IV. 1. 18. 

Have, understand, II. i. 64. 

Haviour, deportment, I. ii. 81. 

Havoc, destruction, V. ii. 382. 

Head, armed force, IV. v. 87. 

Hearsed, coffined, entombed t. iv. 47. 

Heat, anger, III. iv. 4. 

Heavy, it goes hard, III. ill. 85. 

Hebenon, probably the hemlock or hen- 
bane, I. v. 46. 

Hectic, fever, IV. ill. 70. 

Hedge, encompass, IV. v. 106. 

Hent, opportunity, III. ill. 89. 

Heraldry, regular formalities of her- 
alds, I. i. 87. 

Hey-day, passion, wildness, III. Iv. 69. 

Hies, hastens, I. i. 154. 

Hillo, a falconer's cry to recall his 
hawk, I. v. 97. 

Home, thoroughly, III. lii. 30. 

Honest, virtuous, II. ii. 476; III. i. 100. 

Honesty, proper, right, II. ii. 207. 

Hoops, bands, I. iii. 63. 

Humorous, eccentric, II. 11. 342. 

Husband, manage, IV. v. 121. 

Husbandry, economy, I. iii. 77. 

I, ay. III. 11. 278. 
Idle, crazy, III. il. 96. 
•Ield, yield. IV. v. 40. 



GLOSSAEY 



269 



Ilium, the palace in Troy, II. ii. 506. 
Hi-breeding, mischief-breeding, IV. v. 

15. 
Illume, illumine, I. i. 37. 
Image, reproduction, III. ii. 236. 
Immediate, near, I. ii. 109. 
Impart, express myself, I. ii. 112. 
Impasted, covered with a paste, II. ii. 

492. 
Imperious, imperial, V. i. 236. 
Implorators, implorers, I. iii. 129. 
Imponed, staked, V. ii. 158. 
Important, urgent, III. iv. 107. 
Importing, concerning, I. ii. 23; V. ii. 21. 
Imposthume, abscess, IV. iv. 26. 
Impress, enforced service, I. i. 75. 
Imputation, reputation, V. ii. 151. 
In, into, III. ii. 87. 
Incapable, insensible to, IV. vii. 177. 
Incorporal, immaterial, III. iv. 116. 
Incorpsed, incorporate, IV. vii. 86. 
Incorrect, not subdued, I. ii. 95. 
Index, preface, III. iv. 52. 
Indict, accuse, convict, II. ii. 475. 
Indifferent, average, II. ii. 235; fairly, 

III. i. 121. 
Indifferently, pretty well, III. ii. 42. 
Indirections, indirect means, II. i. 62. 
Indued, suited, endowed, IV. vii. 178. 
Inexplicable, senseless. III. il. 14. 
Infusion, qualities, V. ii. 124. 
Ingenious, intelligent, V. i. 271. 
Inheritance, possession, I. i. 92. 
Inhibition, prohibition, II. ii. 353. 
Innovation, change, II. ii. 354. 
Insinuation, artful intrusion, V. ft. 59. 
Instance, example, IV. v. 145. 
Instances, motives, III. ii. 183. 
Instant, instantly, I. v. 76. 
Intents, purposes, I. iv. 42. 
Interpret, explain, III. ii. 244. 
Intill, into, V. i. 81. 
Inurn'd, entombed, I. iv. 49. 
Investments, vestures, I. iii. 128. 
Is, belongs, II. ii. 124. 

Jealousy, suspicion, II. i. 109. 

Jig, a ludicrous ballad, to walk as If 

dancing a jig, II. ii. 533; III. i. 148. 
Jointress, dowager, I. ii. 9. 
Jowls, knocks, V. i. 84. 
Jump, just, I. i. 65. 
Just, balanced, III. ii. 60. 

Keep, dwell, II. i. 8. 

Kettle, kettle-drum, V. ii. 292. 

Kibe, sore on the heel, V. i. 157. 

Kind, 1, natural; 2, affectionate, I. ii. 65. 



Kindless, unnatural, II. ii. 620. 
Knotted, interwoven, I. v. 18. 
Know, acknowledge, V. ii. 149. 

Laboursome, laborious, I. ii. 59. 
Lack, to be wanting, I. v. 169. 
Lapsed, to let time pass, III. iv. 106. 
Lapwing, symbol of a forward fellow, 

V. ii. 196. 
Larded, garnished, dressed, IV. v. 36; 

interspersed, V. ii. 20. 
Lawless, landless, I. i. 98. 
Leave, cease, III. ii. 175; III. iv. 34. 
Lends, gives, I. iii. 117. 
Lenten, meager, II. ii. 335. 
Lethe, river of oblivion, I. v. 33. 
Lets, hinders, I. iv. 86. 
Level, direct, IV. i. 42; IV. v. 134. 
Liberal, free-spoken, IV. vii. 169; V. il. 

162. 
Liberty, license, II. ii. 431. 
Lief, gladly, III. ii. 4. 

Lightness, light-headedness, II. II. 150. 
Like, likely, I. ii. 235. 
Likes, pleases, II. ii. 80. 
Limed, caught, as with bird lime, III, 

iii. 69. 
List, muster-role, I. i. 98; boundary, IV. 

v. 85; listen to, I. iii. 30. 
Living, lasting, V. i. 320. 
Loam, clay, V. i. 233. 
Loggats, a game, V. i. 101, 
Lose, to waste, to throw away, I. ii. 45. 

Machine, body, II. ii. 124. 

Maimed, imperfect, V. i. 242. 

Main, country as a whole, IV. iv. 14. 

Mainly, powerfully, IV. vii. 9. 

Make, bring, I. ii. 163; II. ii. 281. 

Manner, fashion, custom, I. iv. 15. 

Margent, margin, V. ii. 165. 

Mart, marketing, traffic, I. i. 74. 

Matin, morning, I. v. 71. 

Matter, sense, II. ii. 200; II. ii. 514; IV. 

v. 157. 
Mazard, skull, V. i. 98. 
Meed, merit, V. ii. 151. 
Meet, proper, I. v. 89. 
Mere, pure, V. i. 307. 
Merely, entirely, I. ii. 137. 
Metal, courage, I. i. 96. 
Milch, tearful, moist, II. ii. 649. 
Milky, white, II. ii. 511. 
Mincing, cutting in pieces, II. ii. 647. 
Mineral, mine, IV. i. 26. 
Mobled, muffled, II. Ii. 535. 
Model, duplicate, V. il. 50. 



270 



HAMLET 



Modesty, moderation, II. ii. 472; III. ii. 

22; V. i. 230; II. ii. 293. 
Mole, blemish, I. iv. 24. 
Mope, to be stupid, III. iv. 81. 
Moreover, besides, II. ii. 2. 
Mortal, deadly, IV. vii. 141. 
Mote, atom, I. i. 112. 
Motion, impulse, III. iv. 72; attack, IV. 

vii. 156. 
Mountebank, quack, IV. vii. 140. 
Move, cause, II. i. 114. 
Mows, grimaces, II. ii. 390. 
Muddied, stirred up, IV. v. 67. 
Mutes, dumb spectators, V. ii. 353. 
Mutine, rebel, III. iv. 83. 

Napkin, handkerchief, V. ii. 306. 
Native, kindred, relative, I. ii. 47. 
Nature, natural affection, I. v. 65. 
Necessary, inevitable, III. ii. 190. 
Neighbor, intimate, II. ii. 12. 
Nerve, sinew, muscle, I. iv. 84. 
Neutral, indifferent, II. ii. 514. 
Nick-name, misname, III. i. 149. 
Niggard, miserly, stingy, III. i. 13. 
Nomination, naming, V. ii. 135. 
Nonce, occassion, IV. vii. 159. 
Nose, smell, IV. iii. 39. 
Note, attention, III. ii. 90. 
'Noyance, injury, harm, III. iii. 13. 

Obsequious, dutiful, I. ii. 92. 

Occulted, hidden, III. ii. 86. 

Occurrents, events, V. ii. 375. 

Odds, the greater stake, V. ii. 278, 280. 

O'er-raught, overtook, III. i. 17. 

O'er-reaches, outwits, V. i. 87. 

O'ertook, intoxicated, II. i. 56. 

Of, resulting from, IV. iv. 40; by, I. i. 25; 
IV. iii. 4; on, IV. v. 183; about, con- 
cerning, IV. v. 45; upon, II. ii. 307; 
over, II. ii. 27. 

Omen, portent, I. i. 123. 

Ominous, fatal, II. ii. 487. 

On, in, V. i. 211. 

Once, ever, I. v. 102. 

Open'd, disclosed, IL ii. 18. 

Operant, active, III. ii. 175. 

Opposites, opponents, V. ii. 62. 

Orb, earth, II. ii. 518. 

Orchard, garden, I. v. 35. 

Order, prescribed rule, V. i. 251. 

Ordlnant, ordaining, V. ii. 48. 

Ordnance, cannon, V. ii. 287. 

Ore, gold, IV. i. 25. 

Organ, instrument, IV vii. 69. 

Orisons, prayers. III. i. 86. 



Ostentation, funeral pomp, IV. v. 198. 
Outstretched, glorified, II. ii. 273. 
Overlooked, perused, IV. vi. 13. 
Overpeering, rising above, IV. v. 85. 

Paddock, toad, III. iv. 183. 

Pales, fence, I. iv. 28. 

Pall, become ineffective, V. ii. 9. 

Paragon, model of perfection, II. ii. 326. 

Pardon, permission, I. ii. 56; III. ii. 319. 

IV. vii. 45. 
Parle, conference, I. i. 62. 
Part, quality, gift, IV. vii. 75. 
Particular, individual, I. iv. 23. 
Partisan, halberd, battle-axe, I. i. 140. 
Parts, qualities, IV. vii. 72. 
Party, companion, II. i. 40. 
Pass, thrust, V. ii. 61; passage, II. ii. 77. 
Passage, bearing off the body, V. ii. 416. 
Passing, surpassingly, II. ii. 437. 
Passion, deep sorrow, II. ii. 551; IV. v. 

171. 
Pate, head, V. i. 117. 
Patience, permission, III. ii. 114. 
Pause, time for reflection, III. i. 65. 
Peak, sneak, II. ii. 605. 
Peasant, rustic, II. ii. 587. 
Peculiar, private, III. iii. 11. 
Perdition, loss, V. ii. 118. 
Perpend, consider, II. ii. 105. 
Perusal, examination, II. i. 86. 
Pester, trouble, annoy, I. ii. 22. 
Petard, kind of a bomb, III. iv. 200. 
Picked, precise, refined, V. i. 155. 
Pith, height, importance, III. i. 83. 
Piteous, exciting compassion, II. i. 90. 
Plausive, pleasing, I. iv. 30. 
Plurisy, redundancy of blood, excess, 

IV. vii. 116. 
Ply, practise, II. i. 68. 
Politician, plotter, schemer, V. i. 86. 
Pcniard, dagger, V. ii. 159. 
Posset, curdle, I. v. 52. 
Posy, short poem, III. ii. 152. 
Powers, troops, IV. iv. 9. 
Practice, artifice, plot, IV. vii. 66; V. ii. 

336. 
Practices, devices, II. ii. 38. 
Precedent, former, III. iv. 97. 
Precurse, forewarning, I. i. 121. 
Pregnant, yielding, ready. III. ii. 67. 
Prenominate, aforesaid, II. i. 41. 
Presently, immediately, II. ii. 172, 631; 

III. ii. 54; V. ii. 411. 
Pressure, imprint, III. ii. 28. 
Prevent, anticipate, II. ii. 310. 
Primy, springlike, I. iii. 7. 
Probation, proof, I. i. 156. 



GLOSSARY 



271 



Process, history, I. v. 37; what goes on, 
III. iii. 30; mandate, IV. iii. 67. 

Profit, advantage, II. ii. 24. 

Progress, royal journey, IV. ill. 33. 

Pronounce, speak on, III. ii. 311. 

Proof, trial, II. ii. 523. 

Proper, appropriate, II. i. 110; own, 
very, V. ii. 66. 

Property, kingly right, II. ii. 608. 

Proposer, orator, II. ii. 301. 

Puff'd, bloated, I. iii. 49. 

Purging - , discharging, II. ii. 203. 

Pursy, short-winded, III. iv. 151. 

Quaintly, skilfully, II. i. 29. 
Qualifies, moderates, IV. vii. 112. 
Quality, profession, II. ii. 371, 462; IV. 

vii. 71. 
Quantity, portion, III. iv. 75. 
Quarry, heap of dead, V. ii. 382. 
Question, occasion, I. i. Ill; II. ii. 364; 

III. i. 13; talk, III. iv. 12; controversy, 

V. ii. 393. 
Quick, living, V. i. 142. 
Quiddits, subtleties, V. i. 108. 
Quietus, settlement, III. i. 72. 
Quillet, sly trick in argument, V. i. 109. 
Quintessence, pure essence, II. ii. 327. 
Quit, requite, V. ii. 68. 
Quoted, noted, observed, II. i. 108. 

Rack, cloud, II. ii. 517. 

Range, roam at large, III. iii. 2. 

Ranker, richer, greater, IV. iv. 21. 

Rankly, grossly, I. v. 38. 

Rapier, short sword, V. ii. 158. 

Rashly, hastily, V. ii. 6. 

Ravel, disclose, III. iv. 179. 

Razed, slashed, III. ii. 275. 

Reach, capacity, II. i. 60. 

Reck, care for, I. iii. 51. 

Recorder, flute, III. ii. 290. 

Rede, advice, I. iii. 51. 

Redeliver, report, V. ii. 189. 

Reels, dances wildly, I. iv. 9. 

Regards, conditions, II. ii. 79. 

Region, air, II. ii. 520. 

Relative, conclusive, II. ii. 644. 

Relish, have a flavor, III. i. 118. 

Remembrances, mementoes. III. 1. 90. 

Remiss, careless, IV. vii. 133. 

Remorse, pity, II. ii. 524. 

Removed, secluded, I. iv. 62. 

Repast, feed, IV. v. 13Q. 

Replication, answer, IV. ii. 13. 

Requiem, the mass for the dead, V. i. 

260. 
Requite, repay, I. 11. 250. 



Resolutes, desperadoes, I. I. 98. 

Resolve, melt, I. ii. 130. 

Re-speaking, re-echoing, I. ii. 128. 

Respect, motive, III. i. 65. 

Rest, stay, abode, II. ii. 13. 

Rests, remains, III. iii. 65. 

Retrograde, contrary, I. ii. 114. 

Reverend, venerable, II. ii. 512. 

Revolution, change, V. i. 99. 

Riband, ornament, IV. vii. 76. 

Rites, funeral service, V. i. 242. 

Rivals, partners, I. i. 13. 

Robustious, sturdy, III. ii. 10. 

Romage, bustle, turmoil, I. i. 107. 

Rood, cross, III. iv. 14. 

Rots, grows, I. v. 33. 

Rose, charm, grace, III. iv. 42. 

Rosemary, herb, IV. v. 158. 

Round, straight, II. ii. 140; direct, III. 

i. 188; overspoken, III. iv. 5. 
Rouse, drinking bout, I. ii. 127. 
Row, stanza, II. ii. 448. 
Rub, impediment. III. i. 62. 
Rue, pity, IV. v. 164. 
Russett, reddish brown, I. i. 166. 

Sables, rich furs, III. ii. 132; IV. vii. 79. 
Sallets, relish, II. ii. 474. 
Salvation, damnation, V. i. 2. 
Sanctuarize, protect, IV. vii. 126. 
Sans, without, III. iv. 79. 
Saws, maxims, I. v. 82. 
Scan, carefully consider, III. Iii. 76. 
Scarfed, put on loosely, V. ii. 13. 
Scholar, man of learning, I. i. 42. 
Sconce, head, V. i. 111. 
Scope, aim, III. ii. 217. 
Scourge, punishment, IV. iii. 6. 
Scrimers, fencers, IV. vii, 99. 
Scullion, kitchen servant, II. ii. 627. 
Season, restrain, modify, I. ii. 191; liken, 

I. iii. 81; qualify, II. i. 28. 
Secure, careless, I. v. 45. 
Seeming, appearance, III. ii. 93. 
Semblable, likeness, V. ii. 125. 
Sense, feeling, sensibility, III. iv. 38, 72, 

159. 
Sensibly, feeling, IV. v. 133. 
Sequent, following, V. ii. 54. 
Sergeant, sheriff's officer, V. ii. 354. 
Set, regard, esteem, I. iv. 66. 
Several, separate, V. ii. 20. 
Shape, act our part, IV. vii. 149. 
Shards, fragments, V. i. 254. 
Shark'd, collected, I. i. 98. 
Sheen, brightness, luster, III. ii. 158. 
Sheeted, enveloped in shrouds, I. i. 115- 
Shent, put to shame, III. ii. 411. 



272 



HAMLET 



Short, controlled, IV. 1. 18. 

Showing:, fine appearance, V. 11. 114. 

Shrewdly, keenly, I. Iv. 1. 

Siege, rank, IV. vii. 75. 

Simple, silly, weak, I. 11. 97. 

Simples, herbs, IV. vii. 143. 

Skirts, borders, I. i. 97. 

Slander, abuse, I. Hi. 133. 

Slips, faults, offences, II. 1. 22. 

Sliver, splinter, twig, IV. vii. 172. 

Smote, defeated, I. i. 63. 

So, such, III. 1. 66; provided that, IV. 
vii. 59. 

Softly, slowly, IV. lv. 8. 

Soil, defile, I. iv. 20. 

Sole, only, III. iii. 78. 

Solicited, urged, moved, V. II. 376. 

Sometimes, formerly, I. 1. 49. 

Sort, associate, II. 11. 277; turn out, ac- 
cord, I. i. 109. 

Sovereignty, command, I. Iv. 74. 

Spills, destroys, IV. v. 20. 

Splenetive, passionate, V. 1. 284. 

Springes, snares, I. iii. 115. 

Spurns, kicks, IV. v. 6. 

Stalk, stride, I. 1. 50. 

State, condition, I. 1. 101. 

Station, attitude, III. lv. 58. 

Statists, statesmen, V. il. 33. 

Stay, wait for, V. ii. 24. 

Sterling, genuine, I. iii. 107. 

Stiffly, strongly, I. v. 77. 

Still, always, I. 1. 122; I. 11. 104; II. 11. 
42; IV. vii. 115. 

Stithy, smithy, III. il. 90. 

Stomach, courage, I. 1. 100. 

Stoop, drinking cup, V. 1. 68. 

Straws, trifles, IV. v. 6. 

Strike, blast, I. 1. 162. 

Stuck, thrust, IV. vii. 160. 

Subject, people, I. 1. 72. 

Succession, future, II. il. 376. 

Suddenly, immediately, II. ii. 219. 

Sullies, stains, II. 1. 37. 

Supervise, perusal, V. ii. 23. 

Suppllance, amusement, I. lil. 9. 

Supply, aiding, n. ii. 24. 

Supposal, opinion, I. 11. 18. 

Synod, meeting, II; li. 527. 

Table, tablet, I. v. 80. 

Taints, stains, blemishes, I. v. 67; II. I. 
30. 

Take, assume, II. 1. 13. 

Takes, affects, enchants, I. 1. 163; en- 
dures, III. 1. 71. 

Target, small shield, II. ii. 341. 

Tarre, urge on, incite, II. ii. 379. 



Tax'd, censured, I. lv. 18. 

Tell, count, number, I. ii. 237. 

Temperance, restraint, III. ii. 8. 

Temper'd, compounded, V. ii. 347. 

Temple, body, I. iii. 12. 

Tend, wait, I. Hi. 83; IV. iii. 49. 

Tender, exhibit, I. iii. 107, 109; regard, 
IV. Hi. 45. 

Tenders, promises, I. iii. 106. 

Tent, probe, II. li. 637. 

Terms, conditions, IV. vii. 26. 

Tetter, scab, I. v. 55. 

Thereon, on that account, II. 11. 166. 

Thews, sinews, I. iii. 12. 

Thought, care, anxiety, IV. v. 171. 

Thrift, profit, III. ii. 68. 

Tinct, dye, colour, III. iv. 91. 

To, compared to, I. ii. 140. 

Topp'd, surpassed, IV. vii. 87. 

Touch'd, implicated, IV. v. 190. 

Toward, forthcoming, I. 1. 77; in prepa- 
ration, V. ii. 385. 

Toy, trifle, IV. v. 18. 

Toys, fancies, I. iv. 76. 

Trace, follow, V. 11. 127. 

Trade, business. III. ii. 338. 

Translate, change, III. 1. 111. 

Travel, stroll, II. H. 350. 

Trick, habit, IV. vii. 186; skill, V. 1. 99. 

Trick'd, adorned, II. ii. 490. 

Tristful, sorrowful, III. lv. 50. 

Tropically, figuratively, III. 11. 235. 

Truant, roving, I. ii. 168; idler, I. 11. 172. 

Truncheon, a staff of office,, I. ii. 203. 

Truster, believer, I. li. 171. 

Tyrannically, vehemently, II. 11. 364. 

Tyrannous, cruel, II. ii. 493. 

Umbrage, shadow, V. 11. 126. 

Unaneled, without extreme unction, I. 

v. 61. 
Unbated, unblunted, IV. vii. 137; V. 11. 

336. 
Unbraced, unfastened, II. i. 74-. 
Uncharge, acquit, IV. vii. 66. 
Undergo, bear, I. iv. 34. 
Unfold, disclose, I. 1. 2. 
UngaUed, unhurt, III. ii. 270. 
Ungored, unwounded, V. 11. 266. 
Ungracious, graceless, I. iii. 47. 
Unhousled, without sacrament, I. v. 61. 
Unimproved, unemployed, I. 1. 96. 
Union, large pearl, V. 11. 289. 
Unkennel, discover, disclose. III. 11. 87. 
Unmaster'd, unbridled, I. iii. 32. 
Unpregnant, indifferent, II. il. 606. 
Unprevailing, useless, I. ii. 107. 
Unproportion'd, unsuitable, I. HI. 60. 



GLOSSARY 



273 



Unreclaimed, untamed, wild, II. 1. 32. 
Unrighteous, insincere, I. ii. 154. 
T'nshaped, confused, IV. v. 8. 
Unsifted, untried, I. iii. 102. 
Unsinew'd, weak, IV. vii. 10. 
Unsure, insecure, IV. iv. 50. 
Unvalued, low born, mean, I. Hi. 19. 
Unwrungr, sound, III. ii. 241. 
Unyoke, quit work, V. i. 59. 
Upshot, conclusion, V. ii. 402. 
Up-spring, dance, I. iv. 9. 
Uses, habits, customs, I. ii. 134. 
Usurp, exercise unlawfully, III. ii. 257. 

Vailed, lowered, I. II. 70. 

Valanced, bearded, II. ii. 452. 

Validity, value, worth, III. Ii. 187. 

Variable, various, IV. iii. 25. 

Vast, void, I. ii. 197. 

Ventages, air holes. III. ii. 868. 

Vice, buffoon, clown, III. iv. 97. 

Virtue, rapid power, III. iv. 150; IV. v. 

138. 
Visitation, visit, II. il. 25. 
Voice, vote, opinion, V. ii. 265, 374. 
Vulgar, common, I. ii. 99; I. iii. 61. 

Wag, move, III. Iv. 39. 

Wake, feast late, I. iv. 8. 

Wann'd, turned pale, II. il. 591. 

Wanton, effeminate, weakling, V. il. 317. 

Wantonness, affection, III. 1. 150. 

Wash, sea, III. 11. 157. 

Wassail, revelry, carousal, I. iv. 9. 



Watch, wakefulness, II. ii. 149. 

Waves, beckons, I. iv. 69. 

Weeds, garments, IV. vii. 79. 

Wharf, bank of a river, I. v. 33. 

Wheel, refrain of a song, IV. v. 154. 

Wholesome, reasonable, sensible, III. 11. 
818. 

Wildness, madness, III. 1. 40. 

Will, appetite, III. iv. 88. 

Windlasses, roundabout ways, II. I. 61. 

Winnowed, exquisite, select, V. ii. 203. 

Wit, wisdom, knowledge, II. il. 90. 

With, by, IV. vii. 32. 

Withal, with, I. iii. 28; II. ii. 301. 

Withers, the part between the shoulder 
blades of a horse, III. 11. 241. 

Wont, used, accustomed, I. iv. 6. 

Woodcocks, birds supposed to be brain- 
less, I. iii. 115. 

Word, watchword, I. v. 92. 

Would, wish, I. ii. 235. 

Woundless, invulnerable, IV. 1. 44. 

Wreck, ruin, II. 1. 109. 

Writ, writing, II. ii. 431. 

Yaw, stagger, move unsteadily, V. il. 

121. 
Yawn, gape. III. 11. 402. 
Yeomen, dweller in a village, V. il. 86. 
Yesty, frothy, V. II. 201. 
Yield, furnish, IV. v. 11. 
Yielding:, consent, I. iii. 23. 
Yourself, personally, II. 1. 67. 




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